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7*U?*WPill 

iftP1 


BIOLOGY  LIBRARY 


THE   EVOLUTION   AND   FUNCTION   OF 
LIVING   PUKPOSIVE  MATTER 


The  International  Scientific  Series 
THE 

EVOLUTION  AND  FUNCTION 

OF  LIVING  PURPOSIVE 

MATTER 


BY 

N.  C.  MACNAMARA,  F.R.C.S. 

•i 

AUTHOR   OP 

"HUMAN  SPEECH,  A  STCDY  ix  THE  PURPOSIVE  ACTION  OF  LIVING  MATTBK. 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW    YORK 
D.    APPLETON   AND   COMPANY 

1910 


8IOLOGT 
LIBRARY 


OOLOGY  LIBRARY 


PREFACE 

IN  a  previous  volume  of  the  International  Scientific 
Series  I  described  the  fundamental  properties  of  living 
protoplasm,  and  gave  an  outline  of  the  development 
of  the  sense  organs  of  the  body  and  the  functions 
performed  by  them,  in  their  relation  to  those  parts 
of  the  central  nervous  system  by  which  we  gain 
ideas  concerning  the  external  worlds,  and  are  able  to 
express  our  thoughts  in  intelligent  speech. 

The  object  of  the  following  work  is  to  endeavour 
to  explain  the  evolution  of,  and  functions  performed  by 
those  elements  of  protoplasm  which  are  essential  for 
the  manifestation  of  purposive,  instinctive,  and  psychical 
phenomena.  I  believe  that  knowledge  to  be  derived 
from  the  study  of  this  subject,  is  capable  of  helping 
us  to  realise  the  importance  of  heredity  in  determining 
the  personal  character  of  individuals,  and  the  influence 
which  the  environment  exercises  in  modifying  the  innate 
qualities  handed  down  to  us  by  our  progenitors.1 

I  hold  the  opinion  that  the  protoplasm  of  even  the 
simplest  organism,  such  as  that  which  constitutes 

1  With  confidence  we  recommend  those  persons  who  are  inter- 
ested  in  this  subject  to  study  Mr  and  Mrs  Whetham's  able  and 
interesting  work,  '*The  Family  and  the  Nation." 


VI  PREFACE 

the  body  of  an  amoeba,  in  response  to  various  stimuli, 
discharges  a  part  of  its  potential  energy  which,  through 
the  action  of  certain  of  its  constituent  elements,  is 
transformed  into  purposive  movements,  or  work  adapted 
to  promote  the  well-being  of  the  organism.  Beyond  this, 
there  is  evidence  to  prove  that  the  living  substance  of 
an  amoeba  retains  impressions  made  upon  it  by  appro- 
priate stimuli,  and  that  these  impressions  may  be 
re-excited  by  similar,  or  it  may  be  by  other,  stimuli 
than  those  which  produced  the  original  impression. 
So  that  the  movements  of  these  minute  particles  of 
protoplasm  are  not  only  purposive,  but  are  to  some 
extent  guided  by  memory  and  experience. 

In  unicellular  organisms  the  purposive  elements 
appear  to  be  equally  diffused  throughout  the  living 
substance  of  their  bodies,  but  in  all  the  higher  classes 
of  beings  these  elements  have  become  differentiated, 
and  constitute  a  part  of  the  protoplasm  of  their  gang- 
lionic  nerve  cells.  These  cells  send  out  amoeboid -like 
processes  in  the  form  of  nerve  fibres  which  communicate 
with  one  another  and  form  structures,  the  basis  sub- 
stance of  which  receives  -and  retains  impressions  made 
upon  it  by  appropriate  stimuli,  responding  by  the 
discharge  of  energy  which  becomes  manifest  in  definite 
movements  of  the  body. 

I  maintain  that  the  purposive  elements  of  proto- 
plasm undergo  evolution  pari  passu  with  those  elements 
which  constitute  the  structures  and  organs  of  the  bodies 
of  the  ascending  classes  of  animals,  and  trace  the 


PREFACE  Vll 

development  of  these  elements  through  their  various 
stages,  showing  that  this  specialised  form  of  matter 
has  come  to  occupy  a  definite  part  of  the  cerebrum,  its 
functions  being  to  elaborate  the  instinctive  and 
emotional  faculties  displayed  in  the  movements  made 
by  animals.  I  adduce  evidence  to  prove  that  the 
psychic  nervous  substance  of  the  brain  has  been  de- 
veloped from  matter  possessing  instinctive  functions. 
It  is  through  the  orderly  working  of  such  a  system 
that  mental  phenomena  are  brought  into  operation. 

In  a  well-balanced  brain  energy  derived  from  psychic 
nervous  matter,  to  a  large  extent,  controls  the  action 
of  those  parts  of  the  cerebral  substance  by  means  of 
which  inherited,  instinctive,  and  emotional  processes 
are  elaborated,  nevertheless,  in  the  majority  of  human 
beings  these  faculties  exercise  a  paramount  influence 
over  their  personal  characters.  In  the  first  part  of  this 
volume  I  have  given  biological  and  anatomical  evidence 
to  demonstrate  the  nature  of  the  living  matter  out  of 
which  the  hereditary  qualities  possessed  by  individuals 
are  elaborated.  In  the  second  part  of  this  book  the 
soundness  of  these  conclusions  are  put  to  the  test,  by 
giving  the  outline  of  the  leading  characteristics  displayed 
by  a  long  line  of  individuals,  who  lived  under  con- 
ditions well  adapted  to  show  the  power  which  their 
inherited  qualities  exercised  on  the  actions  of  many 
succeeding  generations,  and  on  the  destinies  of  the  race 
to  which  they  belonged.  I  thus  emphasize  the  import- 
ance of  heredity  in  determining  individual  character. 


Vlll  PREFACE 

My  sincere  thanks  are  due  to  Mr  R.  H.  Burne,  M.A., 
F.Z.S.,  for  the  never  failing  and  able  assistance  he  has 
given  me  in  preparing  the  first  part  of  the  following 
work,  much  of  its  contents  being  based  on  material 
contained  in  the  Physiological  Series  of  the  Museum 
of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  of  England. 

N.  C.  MACNAMARA. 
CHORLEY  WOOD, 

January  1910. 


CONTENTS 

PART  I 
CHAPTER  I 

PAGES 

Chemical  and  physical  forces  being  insufficient  to  account  for 
the  adaptative  movements  displayed  by  the  simplest  known 
forms  of  living  organisms,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
such  movements  result  from  Avork  performed  by  a  peculiar 
organization  and  combination  of  elements  inherent  to  living 
matter,  described  as  purposive  and  memorial  elements,  the 
latter  retaining  and  reproducing  impressions  made  upon 
them  by  various  stimuli,  the  former  transmuting  nervous 
energy  into  work  adapted  to  promote  the  well-being  of 
the  individual  and  of  its  species 1-29 

CHAPTER  II 

The    purposive    elements    in    unicellular  beings  are   diffused 
throughout  their  living  substance  ;    in  the  loAvest^ classes 
of  multicellular  animals  these  elements  become  conspicuous 
in  the  form  of  ganglionic  nerve-cells,  connected,  on  the  one 
hand,  with  sensory  organs,  and,  on  the  other,  with  motor 
cells.     Through  the  transforming  power  exercised  by  the 
purposive  elements  of  this  system,  directing  energy  derived 
from    external   stimuli,    movements   are    effected   by   the 
animal's  body  which  tend  to  promote  its  well-being.    Pass- 
ing from  the  simplest  to  the  higher  orders  of  invertebrates, 
ganglionic  nerve-cells  become  aggregated  into  a  central 
nervous  system,  and  pari  passu  with  the  evolution  of  the 
structures  and   organs  constituting  the  bodies  of  these 
animals,  their  purposive  elements  become  developed  into 
nervous  matter  possessing  instinctive  functions   rendered 
necessary  for  the  preservation  of  these  orders  of  beings  in 
their  struggle  for  existence          ......    30-54 

ix 


X  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  III 

PAGES 

111  the  case  of  certain  insects,  such  as  antsand  bees,  stimuli  derived 
from  the  olfactory  organs  on  reaching  the  nervous  substance 
of  those  areas  of  the  brain  in  which  the  olfactory  nerves 
originate,  bring  its  memorial  and  purposive  elements  into 
action  and  become  manifest  in  the  emotional  and  instinct- 
ive activities  these  insects  display.  Action  of  this  kind 
is  hereditary 55-73 

CHAPTER  IV 

The  structure  and  functions  are  described  of  those  parts  of  the 
brain  which,  in  the  two  lower  classes  of  vertebrates,  con- 
stitute the  central  transmitting  and  receiving  station  for 
out-going  and  in-coming  streams  of  energy  derived  from 
sensory  organs ;  this  portion  of  the  brain  being  known  as 
its  basal  ganglia.  One  of  the  functions  of  the  nervous 
matter  of  these  ganglia  is  to  associate  the  energy  it  receives 
and  transmute  it  into  those  hereditary,  instinctive,  and 
emotional  movements  of  the  lower  classes  of  vertebrates 
which  indicate  their  individual  (or  personal)  characters  .  74-92 

CHAPTER  V 

The  basal  ganglia  form  prominent  structures  of  the  brain  in 
reptiles,  birds  and  the  mammalia,  an  important  part  of 
their  work  being,  as  in  the  lower  animals,  the  control  of 
their  hereditary,  instinctive,  and  emotional  movements. 
In  this  way  the  living  matter  of  these  ganglia  form  the 
basis-substance  which  governs  the  hereditary  personal 
characters  of  vertebrates.  In  reptiles  we  find  the  earliest 
indications  of  that  form  of  nervous  substance  whose  func- 
tion it  is  to  elaborate  psychical  processes  .  .  .  93-106 

CHAPTER  VI 

From  the  living  substance  of  its  basal  ganglia,  the  mammalian 
brain  has  developed  a  mass  of  psychical  nervous  substance, 
which  is  proportionate  in  structure  and  functions  to  the 
intellectual  requirements  of  the  various  orders  of  this  class 
of  animals  in  their  struggle  for  existence  ;  their  personal 
hereditary  character  being  still  to  a  large  extent  directed 
by  the  nervous  iiiattt-r  of  their  basal  ganglia  .  .  107-123 


CONTENTS  XI 


CHAPTER  VII 

PAGKS 

The  structure  and  functions  performed  by  the  psychical  areas 
of  the  cerebrum  (known  as  the  neopallium)  of  apes  and 
human  beings  are  described,  as  also  the  mechanism  of  the 
neopallial  nervous  centres,  by  means  of  which  stimuli 
derived  from  sensory  organs  are  transmuted  into  sensations, 
ideas,  and  intellectual  processes.  Stress  is  laid  on  the 
important  part  which  the  growth  in  man  of  nervous  matter, 
adapted  to  formulate  ideas  into  silent  and  spoken  language, 
has  exercised  in  promoting  the  development  of  his  mental 
powers 124-153 

CHAPTER  VIII 

A  summary  of  the  contents  of  the  preceding  seven  chapters  is 
given,  showing  that  man  has  gained  his  commanding 
position  in  the  world  by  means  of  the  great  development 
which  has  taken  place  in  the  nervous  matter  of  his  cere- 
brum, as  compared  with  that  of  any  other  animal.  At  the 
same  time  the  emotional  and  instinctive  faculties  of  men 
exert  a  decided  influence  in  forming  the  personal  hereditary 
characters  of  individuals,  and  on  the  destinies  of  the  race 
to  which  they  belong  ......  154-187 


PART  II 
CHAPTERS  I— IV 

To  substantiate  the  conclusions,  derived  from  knowledge 
acquired  by  a  study  of  comparative  biology,  regarding  the 
influence  which  hereditary  personal  characters  exercise  on 
the  destinies  of  individuals,  and  of  the  race  to  which  they 
belong,  an  outline  is  given  of  the  origin  and  racial  character 
of  a  tribe  of  Celts  who,  about  the  year  A.D.  450,  settled 
in  the  West  of  Ireland,  their  descendants  remaining  on 
the  same  lands,  an  unmixed  race,  in  a  fairly  constant 
environment,  until  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century 191-288 

INDEX    ,  289-298 


PAKT  I 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  object  of  the  following  work  is  to  establish  the  fact, 
that  action  excited  in  living  protoplasm  by  various 
modes  of  energy,  is  transmuted  by  certain  of  its  elements 
into  movements  adapted  to  promote  the  well-being  of 
the  organism.  We  term  the  elements  constituting  this 
kind  of  matter  "  purposive,"  and  show  they  are  sufficient 
to  effect  all  the  movements  necessary  to  maintain  the 
existence  of  the  lower  classes  of  living  beings.1  But  as 
in  the  ascending  orders  of  animals  the  structures  entering 
into  the  formation  of  their  bodies  become  more  com- 
plicated, the  purposive  elements  which  direct  their 
movements  undergo  a  corresponding  evolution,  and 
become  developed  into  matter  possessing  instinctive 
and  finally  psychical  functions. 

In  our  previous  volume  on  "  Human  Speech,"  we 
gave  an  outline  of  the  fundamental  properties  possessed 
by  living  protoplasm,  its  sources  of  potential  energy,  and 
its  adaptation  to  the  action  of  the  environment,  through 
means  of  which  the  e^yes,  ears,  and  other  sensory  organs, 
together  with  a  nervous  system  had  become  developed. 
In  order  to  illustrate  the  working  of  this  system  we. 
referred  to  its  power,  in  human  beings,  of  elaborating 
and  giving  expression  to  intellectual  processes  in  spoken 
language.  Following  on  these  lines  in  the  present  work 

1  Purposive — "  a  word  to  express  the  adaptation  of  means  to  an 
end,  whether  involving  consciousness  or  not." — "  Enc.  Brit.,"  vol. 
xx.  p.  73. 

A  1 


OP.PUEPOSIVE  MATTER 


we  apply  the'teachmg'of  comparative  biology  to  elucidate 
the  origin  and  nature  of  hereditary  instinctive  matter, 
and  to  show  that  in  the  case  of  human  beings  it  exercises 
a  paramount  influence  on  their  personal  characters  and 
on  the  race  to  which  they  belong. 

Throughout  the  following  pages  we  employ  the  term 
individual  or  personal  character  to  signify  those  heredi- 
tary instinctive  and  emotional  processes  which,  as  we 
conceive,  form  the  substratum  of  our  actions,  and  to  a 
large  extent  rule  our  whole  life.1 

We  hold  that  purposive  matter  consists  of  certain 
elements  of  living  protoplasm  which  transmute  specific 
modes  of  energy  into  action  adapted  to  promote  the  well- 
being  of  the  organism  ;  the  supply  of  energy  necessary 
for  this  work  is  derived  from  the  reaction  of  living 
matter  to  various  forms  of  stimuli. 

The  agent  or  form  of  energy  which  excites  living  matter 
to  action  is  known  as  a  stimulus  ;  movements  or  other 
work  thus  effected  by  living  matter  is  described  as  a 
response  or  reaction  to  a  stimulus. 

For  instance,  the  substance  which  forms  the  body  of  a 
unicellular  being  known  as  the  Bacterium  Photometricum, 
consists  of  a  minute  speck  of  protoplasm,  from  which  a 
number  of  fibrils  or  cilia  project  outwards  through  the 
delicate  cell  wall  of  the  organism  ;  these  form  the  motory 

1  Professor  Villa  states,  that  which  determines  our  actions,  rules  our 
whole  life,  and  represents  consequently  better  than  any  other  mental 
activity  our  personality,  is  what  we  call  our  "  character."  When 
the  latter  coincides  with  our  ideas,  the  mental  life  is  harmonious, 
and  we  have  the  illusion  that  it  is  they  that  regulate  our  actions, 
whereas  we  are  really  only  obeying  our  nature.  And  of  this  we  have 
an  evident  proof  when  there  arises  a  discrepancy  between  our  ideas 
and  our  character,  for  in  that  case  it  is  always  the  character  which 
conquers.  The  intelligence  is  a  superadded  element.  —  "  Con- 
temporary Psychology,"  p.  180. 


THE    ACTION   OF   PURPOSIVE    MATTER  3 

structures  of  the  cell,  and  by  their  lashing  movements 
propel  it  through  the  water.  As  before  explained,  under 
favourable  conditions  the  living  matter  forming  the  body 
of  a  being  of  this  kind  is  charged  with  potential  energy 
derived  from  chemical  action  and  other  sources.1  If  a 
Bacterium  of  this  kind  is  kept  in  the  dark  it  remains 
almost  stationary,  but  directly  the  water  in  which  it  is 
floating  is  exposed  to  the  stimulus  of  sunlight  its  cilia 
commence  to  work  and  the  cell  moves  rapidly  through 
the  water  ;  thus  bringing  the  organism  within  reach  of 
food.  Movements  of  this  kind,  we  hold,  are  purposive, 
being  adapted  to  promote  the  well-being  of  the  organism. 

We  shall  endeavour  to  show  that  movements  such  as 
those  above  referred  to  result  from  energy  acting  on  the 
living  matter  constituting  the  cilia  of  the  organism  :  we 
call  such  energy  purposive,  and  the  form  of  matter  from 
which  it  proceeds  purposive  elements.  Our  theory  is, 
that  in  the  case  of  a  Bacterium  Photometricum  a  portion 
of  the  potential  energy  of  its  protoplasm  is  discharged 
by  the  action  of  energy  it  receives  in  the  form  of  sun- 
light ;  a  part  of  the  potential  force  thus  released  is  trans- 
formed by  the  purposive  elements  of  the  cell,  into  energy 
which  directs  the  action  of  its  cilia  as  above  described. 
The  work  thus  performed  by  the  purposive  elements  of  a 
bacterium  might  be  referred  to  as  being  analogous  to 
that  of  the  central  nervous  system  of  the  higher  classes 
of  animals,  in  that  these  elements  constitute  the 
guiding  apparatus  of  the  motary  substance  of  the 
organism. 

For  some  years  past  it  has  been  recognised  as  an 
established  fact,  that  movements  made  by  the  simplest 
kinds  of  organisms  were  effected  by  the  response  of  their 
1  "  Human  Speech,"  p.  28. 


4       THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

living  substance  to  various  forms  of  external  stimuli.  As 
far  back  as  the  year  1878  Professor  Strasburger  (and  in 
1879  Professor  Stahl)  employed  the  word  Phototaxis  to 
designate  the  position  taken  by  an  organism  with 
reference  to  the  direction  of  the  incident  rays  of  light. 
He  refers  to  certain  of  the  Desmids.  This  elongated 
cell  attaches  itself  by  one  end,  then  swings  itself  over 
and  attaches  itself  by  the  other  end  :  each  time  this  is 
repeated  the  organism  moves  the  length  of  its  body. 
This  movement,  Stahl  observes,  is  due  to  a  periodical 
reversal  of  position,  such  that,  for  a  time,  one  end  of  the 
cell  is  directed  towards  the  source  of  light,  and  then 
the  body  is  swung  over  like  a  pendulum,  so  that  the 
other  end  comes  to  be  directed  towards  the  source  of 
light.  When,  however,  the  light  is  intense,  these  beings 
place  their  long  axes  perpendicularly  to  the  direction 
of  the  incident  rays.  As  already  shown  ("  Human 
Speech,"  p.  51)  the  position  of  chlorophyll-corpuscles  are 
influenced  by  light,  they  collect  on  the  cell-wall  which 
is  perpendicular  to  the  direction  of  the  incident  rays. 

In  the  case  of  zoospores  the  intensity  of  the  light  to 
which  they  are  exposed  directs  their  movements  either 
towards  or  from  the  source  of  light ;  but  such  movements 
depend  on  the  sensitiveness  of  the  living  matter  of  the 
organism,  and  this  will  be  largely  influenced  by  its  supply 
of  potential  energy  due  to  the  perfection  or  otherwise  of 
its  nutritive  and  metabolic  processes.  ' '  Again,  suppos- 
ing that  at  a  certain  medium  temperature  zoospores  move 
away  from  light  of  a  given  and  considerable  intensity ; 
if  now  the  temperature  be  raised  several  degrees,  the 
zoospores  will  move  towards  the  source  of  light,  that  is, 
at  the  higher  temperature  they  are  less  sensitive  to  light." 
The  sensitivity  of  these  organisms  is  affected  by  the 


THE   ACTION   OF   PURPOSIVE   MATTER  5 

supply  of  free  oxygen,  and  is  also  increased  by  their 
age,  so  that  when  young  they  move  towards  light,  from 
which  when  they  are  older  they  move  away.1 

Professor  Jacques  Loeb  holds  that  the  movements  of 
the  higher  animals  like  those  of  the  simpler  orders  of 
beings,  result  from  the  response  of  their  living  substance 
to  the  direct  action  of  light  and  other  natural  forces  ; 
he  maintains  that  these  beings  have  no  power  of  directing 
or  of  resisting  the  action  of  these  forces.  The  movements 
of  both  plants  and  animals,  he  states,  depend,  "first,  upon 
the  specific  irritability  of  certain  elements  of  the  body- 
surface,  and,  secondly,  upon  the  relation  of  symmetry  of 
the  body."  Symmetrical  elements  at  the  surface  of  the 
body  have  the  same  irritability  ;  unsymmetrical  elements 
have  a  different  irritability.  Those  nearer  the  oral 
pole  possess  an  irritability  greater  than  that  of  those 
near  the  aboral  pole.  These  circumstances  force  an 
animal  to  place  itself  towards  a  source  of  stimulation  in 
such  a  way  that  symmetrical  points  on  the  surface  of 
the  body  are  stimulated  equally.  In  this  way  animals 
are  led  without  will  of  their  own  either  towards  the 
source  of  the  stimulus  or  away  from  it.2 

1  "  Physiology  of  Plants,"  S.  H.  Vines,  pp.  520,  525;  also  Fischer, 
"  The  Structure  and  Functions  of  Bacteria,"  p.  81. 

2  "  Comparative  Physiology  of  the  Brain  and  Psychology,"  pp.  7, 
181,  by  Professor  J.  Loeb,  who  is  of  opinion  that  the  central  nervous 
system  is  nothing  more  than  a  protoplasmic  medium  of  communica- 
tion between  the  skin  and  the  muscles.     (Somewhat  similar  opinions 
have  been  promulgated  by  Dr  Kronthal,  his  idea  being  that  the 
conducting  paths  of  nbrillse  constitute  the  only  essential  nervous 
mass,  and  that  the  remaining  parts  of  the  nerve  cell — thatus,  the 
protoplasmic  and  chromatic  masses,  nucleus  and  nucleolus — belong 
to  wandering   cells,  which   bear  the  same   relation    to   the   neuro- 
fibrillse  that  a  drop  of  oil  does  to  a  number  of  threads  at  whose 
intersecting    points  the  drop   has   become   entangled. — Brit.    Med. 
Journ.,  May  29,  1909, 'p.  1303. 


6  THE   ACTION   OF   PURPOSIVE   MATTER 

As  an  example,  Professor  Loeb  refers  to  the  move- 
ments of  a  moth  in  the  presence  of  a  lighted  candle. 
He  states  that  if  a  moth  be  struck  by  the  light  on  one 
side,  those  muscles  which  turn  the  head  towards  the 
light  become  more  active  than  those  of  the  opposite 
side,  and  correspondingly  the  head  of  the  animal  is 
turned  towards  the  source  of  light.  As  soon  as  the  head 
of  the  animal  has  this  position,  and  the  median-plane 
comes  into  the  direction  of  the  rays  of  light,  the  sym- 
metrical points  of  the  surface  of  the  body  are  struck  by 
the  rays  of  light  at  the  same  angle.  The  intensity  of 
light  is  the  same  on  both  sides,  and  there  is  no  more 
reason  why  the  animal  should  turn  to  the  right  or  left — 
away  from  the  direction  of  the  rays  of  light.  Thus  it 
is  led  to  the  source  of  light.  Animals  that  move  rapidly 
get  into  the  flame  before  the  heat  of  the  flame  has  time 
to  check  them  in  their  flight.  Animals  that  move  slowly 
are  affected  by  the  increasing  heat  as  they  approach  the 
flame ;  the  high  temperature  checks  their  progressive 
movement,  and  they  walk  or  fly  slowly  about  the  flame. 
The  more  refractive  rays  are  the  most  effective  in  animals, 
just  as  in  plants,  in  producing  these  movements. 

Dr  G.  Bohn  is  a  strenuous  advocate  of  Loeb's  ideas, 
but  is  under  the  impression  that  the  "  tropisms,"  or  the 
action  of  natural  forces  on  irritable  living  matter,  are 
not  sufficient  alone  to  insure  the  well-being  and  repro- 
duction of  unicellular  or  other  organisms.  He  holds 
that  action  of  this  kind  is  insufficient  in  itself  to 
insure  the  preservation  of  the  life  of  the  animal ;  he 
therefore  supplements  the  action  of  tropisms  by  what 
he  terms  "  sensibilite  differentielle,"  that  is,  sensitiveness 
to  changes  in  intensity,  or  the  power  organisms  possess 
of  responding  to  the  action  of  different  degrees  of  energy 


PHYSIOLOGICAL   CONDITIONS  7 

received  from  stimuli.  It  is  through  this  form  of 
sensibility,  in  Dr  Bohn's  opinion,  that  when  an  organism, 
under  the  stimulus  of  light,  is  attracted  in  a  certain 
direction,  and  reaches  a  shaded  spot,  it  rotates  on  itself 
and  moves  away  from  the  shadow.1 

Professor  F.  Darwin,  in  his  address  to  the  British 
Association  (September  1908),  when  referring  to  the 
movements  of  plants,  is  disposed  to  adopt  Professor  H.  S. 
Jenning's  teaching  on  this  subject,  and  states  that  we 
must  take  into  consideration  what  he  calls  physiological 
conditions  of  the  organism  as  distinguished  from  per- 
manent anatomical  conditions.  External  stimuli  are 
supposed  to  act  by  altering  this  physiological  state  ; 
that  is,  the  organism  is  temporarily  transformed  into 
what,  judged  by  its  reactions,  is  practically  a  different 
creature.  This  may  be  illustrated  by  the  behaviour  of 
a  unicellular  being  known  as  Stentor,  one  of  the  Infusoria 
(Jennings,  "  Behaviour  of  the  Lower  Organisms,"  p.  170, 
1906).  If  a  fine  jet  of  water  is  directed  against  the 
disc  of  the  creature,  it  contracts  "  like  a  flash  "  into  its 
tube.  In  about  half  a  minute  it  expands  again  and  the 

1  We  must  refer  the  reader  to  Dr  G.  Bohn's  work,  "  La  Nais- 
sance  de  1' Intelligence,"  for  the  full  meaning  and  the  evidence 
on  which  he  bases  his  ideas  regarding  "  tropisms  "  and  their  relation 
to  Differential  Sensibility.  He  appears  to  hold  with  Professor 
Loeb  that  all  biological  processes  could  be  explained  on  physico-chemi- 
cal bases  and  that  life  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  chemical  function.  He 
describes  how,  working  with  the  eggs  of  marine  animals,  he  attempted 
to  discover  the  physico-chemical  nature  of  fecundation.  He  found 
that  extracts  of  the  male  seed  of  homologous  animals  failed  to  fertilise 
the  eggs,  but  that  of  a  foreign  species  was  capable  of  doing  so.  He 
further  found  that  the  process  acts  in  two  stages  and  each  stage  can 
be  initiated  chemically.  First  the  sperm  cell  acts  by  partially  dis- 
solving the  external  layers  of  the  egg,  and,  secondly,  the  process 
called  formative  stimulation  proceeds  by  the  penetration  of  a  sub- 
stance of  high  tonicity. 


8  THE   ACTION   OF  PURPOSIVE   MATTER 

cilia  resume  their  activity.  Now  we  cause  the  current 
to  act  again  upon  the  disc.  This  time  the  Stentor  does 
not  contract,  which  proves  that  the  animal  had  been 
in  some  way  changed  by  the  first  stimulus.  This  is  a 
simple  example  of  "  physiological  state."  "  When  the 
Stentor  was  at  rest,  before  it  received  the  first  current 
of  water,  it  was  in  state  1,  the  stimulus  changed  state 
1  into  state  2,  to  which  contraction  is  the  reaction. 
When  again  stimulated  it  passed  into  state  3,  which 
does  not  produce  contraction.  We  cannot  prove  that 
the  contraction  which  occurred  when  the  Stentor  was 
first  stimulated  was  due  to  a  change  of  states.  But  it  is 
a  fair  deduction  from  the  result  of  the  whole  experiment, 
for  after  the  original  reaction  the  creature  is  undoubtedly 
in  a  changed  state  since  it  no  longer  reacts  in  the  same 
way  to  the  repetition  of  the  original  stimulus.  Jennings 
points  out  that  as  in  the  case  of  plants,  spontaneous 
acts  are  brought  about  when  the  physiological  state 
is  changed  by  unknown  causes,  whereas  in  other  cases 
we  can  point  to  an  external  agency  by  which  the  same 
result  is  effected."  l 

Professor  Berthold  compares  the  movements  of 
amoebae  and  of  swarm-spores  to  the  drops  of  oil  in  an 
emulsion,  or  to  a  piece  of  camphor  floating  in  water, 
the  movements  always  occurring  towards  the  side  of 
least  surface-tension.  But  as  Professor  Ewart  remarks, 
this  statement  is  misleading.  In  the  case  of  a  piece 
of  camphor  floating  on  water  the  surface-tension  is 
lowered  unequally  as  the  camphor  dissolves  irregularly. 
The  fragment  is  drawn  to  the  side  where  the  surface- 
tension  of  the  water  is  greater ;  for  the  surface-tension- 

1  Professor  F.  Darwin's  Presidential  Address  to  the  British 
Association,  1908. 


DEPENDS    ON   IONS  9 

film  moves  in  that  direction  and  drags  the  camphor 
after  it.  In  the  particles  of  an  emulsion,  however,  a 
diminution  of  the  centrally-directed  surface-tension 
pressure  on  one  side,  or  an  increase  on  the  opposite 
face,  causes  the  particle  to  move  to  the  side  of  least 
surface-tension,  and  this  movement  will  continue  as 
long  as  the  potential  difference  is  maintained,  and 
will  cease  as  soon  as  equilibrium  is  reached.1 

With  reference  to  the  movements  made  by  proto- 
plasm in  response  to  the  various  forms  of  energy  which 
act  upon  it,  we  must,  as  Professor  B.  Moore  states, 
recognise  the  fact  that  the  living  cell  receives  its  supply 
of  energy  from  organic  compounds  capable  of  yielding 
energy  in  the  process  of  oxidation  in  the  cell,  provided 
its  protoplasm  is  in  working  order.  He  states, 
that  the  integrity  of  the  living  matter  of  the  cell 
is  just  as  completely  dependent  upon  the  presence  of 
ions  of  certain  simple  organic  salts  in  its  substance 
and  in  the  surrounding  fluid,  as  upon  the  supply  of 
energy  it  receives  from  the  organic  compounds  of 
the  cell.2  In  point  of  time  the  physiological  activity 

1  "  On  the  Physics  and  Physiology  of  Protoplasmic  Streaming  in 
Plants,"  by  A.  J.  Ewart,  p.  112. 

2  If  a  lump  of  common  salt  is  dissolved  in  water,  and  bits  of  metal 
joined  to  a  copper  wire  are  dipped  into  the  solution,  an  electric 
current  is  started.     A  solution  of  this  kind  is  known  as  a  conducting 
solution,  and  any  substance  which,  when  dissolved,  produces  a  con- 
ducting solution  is  termed  an  electrolyte  (to  set  free).     It  is  held 
by  most  scientists  that  when  an  electrolyte  is  dissolved  in  water 
its  molecules  undergo  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  dissociation  or 
separation    into    electrically    charged  atoms,  which    Farady    called 
ions  (that  which  goes).     These  either  positively  or  negatively  charged 
atoms  have  an  independent  existence  in  the  solution,  and  have  their 
specific  properties  and  reactions  behaving,  therefore,  as  independent 
molecules.     When  two   electrodes  (poles)   are  placed  in  a  solution 
of  an  electrolyte  and  connected  with  a  battery,  the  positively  charged 


10  THE  ACTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

of  the  cell  is  more  rapidly  destroyed  by  removing  or 
altering  the  supply  of  inorganic  ions,  than  it  is  by  inter- 
fering with  the  supply  of  food  stuff.  The  latter  can 
to  some  extent  be  supplied  by  the  combustible  materials 
present  in  the  cell ;  but  when  the  inorganic  ions  forming 
a  constitutional  part  of  the  living  cell  are  altered,  and 
the  equilibrium  between  the  protoplasm  and  ions  thus 
destroyed,  the  cell  activities  immediately  come  to 
rest.1  The  ions  form  an  intrinsic  and  indispensable 
part  of  the  cell  structure  in  the  absence  of  which  it 
can  no  longer  utilise  its  food  supply ;  it  "  is  the  ions 
which  act." 

Professor  Moore  refers  to  the  influence  which  the 
ions  have  on  the  work  performed  by  living  muscles, 
as  for  instance  on  the  muscular  structure  of  the  heart. 
If  an  animal's  heart  is  isolated,  and  fluid  containing 
a  solution  of  food  stuff  be  passed  through  it,  the  muscular 
structure  will  at  once  cease  to  act  and  the  heart  stops 
beating.  If,  however,  a  solution  of  common  salt  be 
used  in  the  same  way,  the  heart  will  continue  to  beat 


electrode  attracts  the  negatively  charged  ions  ;  and  the  negatively 
charged  electrode  attracts  the  positively  charged  ions.  These 
atoms  move  in  opposite  directions  through  the  solution,  and  give 
up  their  charges  at  the  electrodes ;  it  is  their  movement  through  the 
solution  that  constitutes  the  electric  current  in  the  solution.  When 
a  salt  ionises  a  solution,  the  metal  part  forms  the  positive  (cat-ions) 
and  the  acid  part  the  negative  (an-ions).  In  the  case  of  acids 
hydrogen  forms  the  positive,  thus  hydrochloric  acid  gives  the  positive, 
H  ions,  and  the  Cl  the  negative.  It  is,  indeed,  to  the  presence  of 
the  hydrogen  ions  that  so-called  acid  properties  are  to  be  ascribed. 
In  the  case  of  alkalies,  such  as  sodium  hydroxide  (NaoH),  the 
negative  ions  are  formed  of  the  hydroxyl  group. 

1  "  Further  Advances  in  Physiology."  Edited  by  Leonard  Hill. 
Article  by  Professor  B.  Moore,  pp.  1,  2,  "  The  Equilibrium  of  Colloid 
and  Crystalloid  in  Living  Cells." 


INFLUENCE  of  IONS  11 

for  some  time  and  then  stops,  the  solution  having 
gradually  washed  out  the  potassium  salts  from  the 
muscular  structure  of  the  heart,  it  then  ceases  to  act. 
If  a  definite  small  percentage  of  potassium  and  calcium 
salts  are  added  to  the  solution  of  common  salt,  and 
the  solution  is  passed  through  a  freshly  isolated  heart, 
its  muscular  fibres  will  continue  to  work  for  hours 
and  even  days  in  a  regular  and  automatic  manner  ;  thus 
demonstrating  that  inorganic  potassium  and  calcium 
ions  are  essential  factors  in  promoting  the  action  of 
the  specialised  living  substance  of  muscle  fibres. 

These  inorganic  ions  also  possess  a  remarkable  in- 
fluence on  other  processes  of  living  matter ;  for  instance, 
if  the  ova  of  the  starfish  are  exposed  to  the  action  of 
hydrogen  ions,  that  is,  if  they  are  placed  in  a  proper 
acid  solution,  they  undergo  developmental  changes, 
and  produce  a  multitude  of  cells.  The  ova  of  cha3top- 
terus  undergo  developmental  activities  when  placed 
in  a  solution  containing  potassium  ions,  i.e.  the  addition 
of  any  potassium  salt  causes  the  development  of  the 
egg ;  but  other  salts,  which  do  not  yield  potasssium 
ions  are  without  any  such  influence.1  Without  ions 
or  the  bearers  of  electricity  in  the  living  substance 
of  the  cell,  and  in  the  fluid  surrounding  it,  it  cannot 
respond  effectively  to  the  action  of  the  forces  that 
play  upon  it.  Our  object  is  to  endeavour  to  form  ideas 
regarding  the  substance  which  directs  movements 
thus  excited  into  orderly  and  purposive  action.  The 
movements  effected  by  the  simplest  kinds  of  beings 
are  as  well  adapted  for  their  needs  as  those  of  the  higher 
classes  of  animals  possessing  an  elaborate  nervous 
system,  and  complicated  structures  and  organs.  The 

1  Fiiidlay,  p.  39. 


12      THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

physico-chemical  forces  which  initiate  the  movements 
are  the  same  in  every  form  of  living  matter,  but  the 
materials  acted  on  differ  in  each  order  of  beings,  that 
is,  the  structural  arrangement  and  motion  of  the 
elements  constituting  the  protoplasms  of  the  various 
classes  of  beings  has  a  special  architecture  of  its  own, 
and  consequently  definite  action. 

We  fully  appreciate  the  fact  that  the  movements 
made  by  living  protoplasm  in  response  to  the  action 
of  stimuli  depend  upon  its  elements  being  placed  under 
favourable  conditions,  but  we  hold  that  the  move- 
ments of  even  the  simplest  forms  of  plants  and  animals 
cannot  be  wholly  interpreted  in  chemical  and  physical 
terms.  On  the  other  hand,  we  conceive  that  the  move- 
ments of  the  living  matter  of  organisms  excited  by 
external  and  internal  stimuli,  are  directed  by  elements 
which  form  part  of  all  living  matter,  each  after  its  own 
order.  We  cannot  place  our  fingers  on  these  elements 
and  separate  them  from  the  other  constitutents  of 
living  protoplasm,  and  must,  therefore,  in  studying 
their  nature  depend  on  the  series  of  phenomena  they 
produce  in  the  various  classes  of  animals. 

That  unicellular  organisms  possess  inherent  powers 
of  directing  their  own  movements  in  a  purposive 
manner  is  an  idea  supported  by  some  of  the  ablest 
and  most  accurate  scientists  of  the  present  time.  Thus 
Professor  A.  J.  Ewart,  when  referring  to  the  movements 
of  organisms  which  possess  definite  locomotory  organs, 
such  as  flagellae  or  cilia,  states  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  they  have  "  acquired  the  power  of  directing  and 
controlling  the  natural  forces  for  their  own  benefit."  1 

1  "  On  the  Physics  and  Physiology  of  Protoplasmic  Straining  in 
Plants,"  by  A.  J.  Ewart,  p.  112. 


MOVEMENTS    OF   UNICELLULAR   ORGANISMS  13 

Professor  W.  B.  Hardy,  when  discussing  the  nature 
of  the  movements  made  by  an  Amoeba,  observes  "  the 
tiny  animal  manifests  discrimination,  imperfect  no  doubt, 
but  clearly  recognisable.  And  the  choice  is  beneficial, 
it  contains  an  element  of  purpose."  l  Again,  Professor 
Calkins,  when  discussing  the  movements  of  certain 
unicellular  animals,  remarks,  "  it  appears  the  organism, 
as  a  whole,  is  endowed  with  a  set  of  motor  responses 
which  might  be  identified  as  instinctive.  Stimulation 
at  one  point  induces  a  local  response,  but  a  reaction  of 
the  entire  organism  is  poorly  explained  by  the  assump- 
tion of  a  machine-like  organisation  of  the  cell,  or  by 
the  statement  that  these  responses  are  merely  the 
expression  of  chemical  and  physical  forces."  2 

We  may  now  proceed  to  give  the  evidence  on  which 
we  base  our  ideas  regarding  purposive  matter,  and  in 
the  first  place  refer  to  movements  habitually  made 
by  some  of  the  simplest  classes  of  organisms. 

If  we  place  a  multitude  of  ciliated  bacteria,  in  pure 
distilled  water,  into  which  only  filtered  air  can  pass,  and 
thus  prevent  these  beings  obtaining  any  food,  we  find  after 
a  few  days  many  of  them  disappear,  others  become 
languid  and  under  the  microscope  appear  shrivelled 
and  transparent,  they  are  in  fact  on  the  verge  of  starva- 
tion. If  we  then  introduce  into  the  fluid  in  which 
these  bacteria  have  been  kept  some  finely  divided 
particles  of  organic  and  inorganic  matter,  we  see  some 
of  the  bacteria  moving  up  to  the  particles  of  inorganic 
matter  round  which  they  hover  for  a  brief  space  of  time, 
and  then  reversing  the  action  of  their  cilia  they  move 

1  "  The  Physical  Basis  of  Life,"  by  H.  W.  Hardy.     Science  Progress, 
October,  1906,  p.  182. 

2  Professor  Gary  N.  C.  Calkins  on  the  "  Protozoa,"  p.  301. 


14      THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

away  to  another  part  of  the  field  ;  if  in  their  course 
they  meet  with  an  organic  particle  of  matter  they  seem 
to  imbibe  nutriment  from  its  substance,  for  after  a 
time  their  protoplasmic  contents  contain  granules 
of  what  we  take  to  be  food,  and  the  organism  at  the 
same  time  becomes  plump  and  active.  This  process 
of  starving  and  feeding  bacteria  may  be  repeated  over 
and  over  again,  and  under  similar  conditions  the  result 
is  always  the  same. 

If  a  number  of  bacteria  are  placed  in  water  containing 
particles  of  carmine  their  protoplasmic  bodies  absorb 
this  colouring  matter,  but  after  a  short  time  extrude 
it ;  this  process  may  be  repeated  for  some  five  weeks  ; 
after  which  the  bacteria  cease  to  take  up  any  more 
of  the  carmine  particles.  But  if  sepia  is  substituted 
for  carmine  these  same  bacteria  will  absorb  it  into  their 
bodies  for  a  time,  and  then,  as  in  the  case  of  carmine, 
discontinue  to  absorb  the  particles  of  sepia,  which,  like 
the  carmine,  are  useless  substances  either  for  nutritive 
or  other  purposes  of  these  beings.1 

Not  unfrequently  we  find  a  flagellum  at  the  anterior 
and  another  proceeding  from  the  posterior  end  of  the 
cell ;  the  former  draws  the  being  along  at  the  same 
time  that  it  rotates  about  its  axis ;  while  the  latter 
exerts  a  directive  and  modifying  influence  on  the  move- 
ments of  the  Infusorian,  serving  also  as  an  anchor, 
and  sometimes  as  a  spring,  promoting  a  rapid  jerking 
movement  of  leaps  and  bounds. 

An  Amoeba  proteus  consists  of  a  minute  particle 
of  nucleated  protoplasm ;  when  its  outer  surface  is 
gently  touched  by  the  point  of  a  glass  rod,  the  living 
matter  of  the  organism  responds  to  the  stimulus  by  pro- 

1  "  La  Naissance  de  1'Intelligence,"  par  Dr  G.  Bohn,  p.  103. 


MOVEMENTS    OF   AMCEBA  15 

truding  a  portion  of  its  substance  in  the  form  of  a 
pseudopodium,  by  means  of  which  it  clings  to  the  rod. 
But  if  the  point  of  the  rod  is  roughly  pushed  against 
the  surface  of  the  amoeba  the  organism  moves  away 
as  if  to  avoid  injury. 

Amoebse  ordinarily  crawl,  aided  by  their  pseudopodia, 
over  the  surface  of  solid  substances  in  search  of  food. 
If,  then,  one  of  these  beings  becomes  isolated,  at 
first  it  floats  about  in  the  water  in  an  aimless  manner ; 
but  after  a  time  if  it  meets  with  no  solid  substance  on 
which  to  anchor,  the  animal  thrusts  out  a  number 
of  long  slender  pseudopodia ;  these  processes  of  living 
matter  spread  out  in  all  directions  from  the  body  until 
its  substance  becomes  little  more  than  a  meeting  point 
of  the  pseudopodia.  So  soon,  however,  as  one  of  these 
feelers  cornes  in  contact  with  a  solid  body  it  attaches 
itself  to  it,  the  whole  animal  follows  on,  and  resumes 
its  normal  method  of  locomotion.1  Professor  H.  J. 
Jennings  is  disposed  to  think  that  amoebae  retain  the 
effects  of  impressions  made  upon  them  by  stimuli, 
and  that  these  impressions  may  be  brought  into  action 
by  fresh  stimuli ;  in  other  words,  the  living  matter  of 
these,  the  simplest  forms  of  nucleated  living  beings 
possess  what  we  call  memory,  and  further,  their  actions 
are  voluntary  and  prompted  by  what  they  remember. 
For  instance,  Mr  Jennings  on  one  occasion  watched  a 
large  amoeba  seize  a  small  one  by  one  of  its  pseudopodia, 
which  it  then  retracted  and  thus. nearly  enclosed  its 
prey,  but  leaving  an  opening  in  its  encircling  embrace 
the  small  amoeba  escaped  and  moved  away.  The 
larger  animal,  however,  reversed  the  course  it  had 

1  H.  J.  Jennings  on  "  The  Behaviour  of  Lower  Organisms,"  p.  8. 
See  also  "  The  Animal  Mind,"  by  M.  F.  Washburn,  p.  41. 


16  THE   ACTION  OF  PURPOSIVE   MATTER 

been  following,  pursued,  and  again  seized  its  prey ; 
the  small  amosba  again  broke  away  and  made  good 
its  escape.  Referring  to  action  of  this  kind  Mr 
Jennings  remarks  that,  in  his  opinion,  "it  is  difficult 
to  conceive  each  phase  of  action  of  the  pursuer  to  be 
completely  determined  by  simple  present  stimuli," 
but  rather  that  to  some  extent  the  amoeba's  movements 
were  governed  by  the  experience  it  had  acquired  from 
former  possession.1 

The  class  of  Protozoa  known  as  the  Paramoecia 
differ  from  the  amoeba  in  that  they  preserve  a  definite 
form.  These  animals  are  spindle-shaped,  one  extremity 
being  pointed,  the  other  is  rounded  and  forms  the 
anterior  end,  which  in  the  movements  of  the  animal 
through  the  water  is  always  foremost.  On  the  under 
surface  of  this  unicellular  being  there  is  a  groove  passing 
from  the  anterior  end  backwards  to  a  depression  leading 
into  the  soft  protoplasm  of  the  body.  The -outer  surface 
of  the  Paramoecium  is  covered  with  cilia  arranged  in 
definite  rows ;  their  attached  ends  pass  through 
the  outer  delicate  membrane  which  encloses  this  uni- 
cellular animal's  body  and  enters  its  ectoplasmic  layer, 
within  which  is  the  softer  endoplasm  with  its  large 
and  small  nuclei.2 

The  movements  of  these  animals  are  effected  by  the 
action  of  their  cilia,  which  also  line  the  groove  leading 
to  the  opening  into  the  endoplasm  and  by  their  action 
direct  a  current  of  water  containing  nutrient  matter 
into  the  body  of  the  Paramcecium.  The  movements 
of  a  Paramoecium  through  the  water,  as  seen  under  the 

1  Washburn  on  "  Animal  Mind,"  p.  46. 

2  •'  Heredity  and  Variation  in  the  Simplest  Organisms,"  by  Pro- 
fessor H.  S.  Jennings,  American  Naturalist,  June  1909. 


ON   UNICELLULAR   ORGANISMS  17 

field  of  a  microscope,  appear  to  be  rapid ;  the  animal 
darts  about  in  all  directions  if  unopposed,  but  if  in  its 
course  it  meets  with  an  obstacle  it  reverses  the  action 
of  its  cilia  and  moves  backwards,  coming  to  a  momentary 
halt.  The  Paramoecium  then  again  reverses  the  action 
of  its  cilia,  moving  at  an  angle  to  its  original  course. 
So  long  as  the  animal  is  unable  to  pass  the  impediment 
it  repeats  these  tactics,  but  when  it  has  turned  the 
flank  of  the  obstacle  it  resumes  its  original  passage 
onwards.1 

In  another  Family  of  these  unicellular  organisms, 
we  find  a  group  which  includes  among  its  members 
the  Didinium  nasutum,  and  the  Actinobolus  radians. 
The  former  of  these  beings  in  form  may  be  compared 
to  a  diminutive  cask,  rounded  off  at  one  end  and  ter- 
minating at  the  opposite  extremity  in  an  almost  level 
surface  from  the  middle  of  which  rises  a  conical  pro- 
jection ending  in  an  opening  which  leads  into  the  endo- 
plastic  layer  of  the  animal's  body ;  the  cortical  layer 
of  this  projection  contains  a  multitude  of  spindle- 
shaped  structures  (trichocysts),  which  the  Didinium 
has  the  power  to  discharge,  either  for  defensive  or 
offensive  purposes.  The  outer  or  cortical  layer  of  the 
animal's  body  possesses  two  sets  of  cilia  disposed  in  rows, 
which  always  act  in  unison  during  locomotion,  and  the 
direction  which  the  animal  gives  them  determines  the 
course  it  follows.  In  the  movement  forward,  all  the 
cilia  are  directed  towards  the  anterior  part  of  the  body, 
when  it  swims  backwards  their  action  is  reversed.2 

A  Didinium  moving  through  the  water  in  search 
of  food,  when  it  comes  within  a  certain  distance  of  its 

1  Washburn  on  "  Animal  Mind,"  p.  46. 

2  "  The  Psychical  Life  of  Micro- Organisms,"  by  A.  Binet,  p.  50. 

B 


18  THE    ACTION   OP   PURPOSIVE   MATTER 

prey  extrudes  a  number  of  its  trichocysts,  which  are 
aimed  at  the  being  it  desires  to  capture.  These  dart-like 
filaments  penetrate  and  paralyse  the  prey,  the  Didinium 
extends  its  conical  process  which  it  fastens  upon  its 
victim,  and  then  retracts  and  so  draws  its  prey  in  to  its 
body,  where  it  is  soon  converted  into  nutrient  matter. 
This  unicellular  animal  appears  to  have  its  likes  and 
dislikes  as  regards  food,  for  it  is  said  to  prefer  a  Para- 
moecium  for  a  meal,  and  rejects  the  Kotatoria  which 
abound  in  the  water  Didiniae  inhabit. 

The  outer  surface  of  an  Actinobolus  radians  is  covered 
with  cilia ;  it  also  possesses  a  number  of  retractile  pro- 
cesses or  tentacles  armed  with  trichocysts.  When  at 
rest  the  opening  which  leads  into  the  interior  of  its 
body  is  directed  downwards,  and  its  tentacles  are 
stretched  out  in  all  directions  forming  a  number  of 
protoplasmic  filaments.  Various  kinds  of  small  ciliates 
and  flagellates  may  become  entangled  in  these  tentacles 
without  injury  to  themselves  or  producing  any  re- 
action on  the  part  of  the  animal.  But  if  one  of  the 
Halteria  happens  to  come  within  a  short  distance  of 
an  Actinobolus  the  latter  discharges  its  trichocytes 
at  its  prey  which  it  seizes,  and  aided  by  its  retractile 
tentacles  passes  into  its  mouth. 

Another  of  the  Infusoria  (Stentor  rseselia),  when 
attached  by  its  stem  to  some  solid  substance  and  irritated 
by  being  roughly  stroked  with  a  glass  rod,  first  tries 
to  withdraw  from  injury  by  contracting  its  proto- 
plasmic substance  at  the  point  irritated,  and  next 
reverses  momentarily  the  direction  in  which  its  cilia 
are  whirling.  If  these  movements  are  not  effective 
in  getting  rid  of  the  cause  of  irritation  the  animal  con- 
tracts its  whole  body  substance  upon  its  stem,  and 


ON   UNICELLULAR   ORGANISMS  19 

remains  in  this  position  for  some  time ;  should  this 
movement  not  effect  its  purpose,  the  Stentor  loosens 
hold  of  its  anchorage  and  swims  away  from  the  cause 
of  irritation. 

If  a  Vorticella  is  placed  in  such  a  position  as  to  be 
removed  from  all  possible  sources  of  irritation,  its 
movements  of  contraction  and  expansion  continue 
spontaneously,  due  to  energy  derived  from  chemical 
changes  effected  through  the  agency  of  its  living  matter, 
movements  which  closely  resemble  those  made  by  the 
animal  in  response  to  mechanical  stimuli.  Many  of 
the  unicellular  organisms  do  not  possess  either  flagella, 
cilia,  or  other  organs  of  locomotion,  their  movements 
being  effected  by  processes  of  a  mechanical,  but  none 
the  less  of  a  purposive  nature.  Thus  the  Radiolaria 
(Thalassicolla)  responds  to  only  two  forms  of  external 
stimuli — vibration  and  heat.1  Under  the  influence 
of  wave-action  a  Thalassicolla  sinks  till  a  calm  stratum 
is  reached,  and  then  after  a  time  ascends  to  the  surface. 
Towards  small  variations  of  temperature  it  remains 
inert,  as  also  towards  all  conditions  of  illumination 
that  have  been  tried  ;  but  a  long-continued  application 
of  temperature  above  30°  C.  or  below  2°  C.  induces  a 
descent  from  the  surface  of  the  sea  water,  and  this  is 
followed  by  the  death  of  the  animal.  The  onset  of 
maturity  is  also  correlated  with  a  descent  into  deep 
water.  Professor  Gamble  explains  that  the  vertical 
movement  of  this  animal  is  due  to  the  formation 
and  expulsion  of  fluid  lodged  in  the  spaces  or 
vacuoles  contained  in  its  protoplasmic  body.  In 

1  "  The  Protozoa,  Radiolaria,"  by  Professor  F.  W.  Gamble.  "  A 
Treatise  on  Zoology,"  edited  by  Sir  Ray  Lankester,  pp.  96,  111, 
115,  part  i.  first  fascicle. 


20      THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

calm  weather,  and  through  a  considerable  range  of 
temperature,  the  interchange  of  fluid  between  the 
vacuole  and  the  sea  is  gradual,  and  the  slight  wave- 
motion  reinforces  the  calymena  by  acting  as  a  stimulant. 
Thus  the  balance  of  loss  and  gain,  and  with  it  the  sur- 
face position,  are  maintained.  But  the  movements  of 
larger  waves,  or  extremes  of  temperature,  cause  con- 
traction of  the  calymenal  plasma.  The  pseudopodia 
are  withdrawn,  the  vacuoles  burst,  and  the  animal 
descends  until  the  calmer  zone  enables  it  to  reform 
its  calymena  and  recharge  its  vacuoles,  upon  which 
it  ascends.1 

It  seems  to  us  that  the  movements  of  unicellular 
beings  such  as  those  to  which  we  have  referred,  taken 
as  a  whole,  are  but  "  poorly  explained  by  the  assump- 
tion of  a  machine-like  organisation  of  the  cell  "  (p.  13). 
The  living  substance  of  these  cells  exhibit  well-defined 
fundamental  processes  including  purposive  action ;  it 
also  possesses  memory  and  the  power  of  reproducing 
its  like.  And  further,  as  we  have  shown,  under  the 
action  of  energy  derived  from  its  environment  it  under- 
goes molecular  changes  which,  in  the  course  of  time, 
permanently  modify  its  functions  ("  Human  Speech," 
p.  71).  As  far  back  as  the  year  1874  Professor  Huxley, 
in  his  address  to  the  British  Association,  stated  that 
there  could  be  no  doubt,  that  by  continued  repetition, 
stimuli  came  to  be  impressed  on  corresponding  areas 
of  living  nervous  matter,  and  that  these  impressions 

1  The  calymena  consists  of  a  frothy  mass  of  mucilaginous  and 
vacuolated  substance  secreted  by  interstitial  cytoplasm,  which 
surrounds  the  centrally  placed  nucleus,  embedded  in  a  layer  of 
cytoplasm.  The  calymena  is  thus  a  peculiar  secretion  specialised 
for  contact  with  the  outer  world  and  also  for  performing  functions 
such  as  those  above  indicated. 


THE    ACTION   OF   PURPOSIVE   MATTER  21 

might  be  excited  by  various  stimuli  so  as  to  reproduce 
movements  which  had  resulted  from  the  original  im- 
pression. Action  of  this  description,  he  argued,  formed 
the  basis  substance  of  memory.  We  have  now  come 
to  learn  from  Professor  Jennings  that  the  elements  form- 
ing the  basis  substance  of  memory  are  not  confined 
to  the  living  matter  of  nerve-cells,  but  that  they  exist 
in  the  simplest  forms  of  beings  whose  bodies  are  con- 
stituted of  what  we  term  undifferentiated  protoplasm. 
We  have,  as  an  example  of  the  existence  of  memorial 
impressions  in  an  amoeba,  referred  to  the  move- 
ments of  one  of  these  beings  as  described  by  Professor 
Jennings.  This  amoeba  left  the  course  it  had  been 
following  and  turned  back  in  pursuit  of  its  prey.  Having 
captured  the  small  amoeba,  the  presence  of  this  foreign 
body  acted  as  a  stimulus  to  the  protoplasm  of  the 
captor's  body,  which  in  consequence  produced  pseudo- 
podias,  and  these  processes  of  living  matter  displayed 
purposive  action  in  that  they  surrounded  and  for  a 
time  secured  the  prey.  As  Mr  Jennings  states,  the 
amoeba's  movements  seem  to  have  been  governed  by 
the  experience  it  had  acquired  from  former  possession — 
that  is,  the  present  stimulus  re-excited  impressions 
previously  received  by  the  living  matter  of  the  organism. 
The  response  to  this  action  became  manifest  in  the 
purposive  movements  made  of  the  living  substance  of 
the  amoeba ;  in  other  words,  its  living  protoplasm, 
on  being  stimulated,  brought  past  impressions  into 
action. 

This  animal  seems  also  to  have  evinced  purposive 
action  in  that  it  changed  the  direction  of  the  course 
it  was  following  in  order  to  capture  its  prey.  Again, 
in  the  case  of  the  Stentor  raeselia,  after  effecting  various 


22  THE   ACTION  OP  PURPOSIVE   MATTER 

movements  calculated  to  protect  itself  from  injury, 
it  gave  up  further  attempts  of  this  kind,  and  deliber- 
ately detached  itself  from  its  base  and  moved  away 
from  the  source  of  trouble.  And  so  again,  the  move- 
ments and  choice  of  food  displayed  by  Actinobolus 
are  attributable  to  a  purposive  or  guiding  apparatus 
which  constitutes  a  part  of  the  animal's  body  substance. 

Mr  G.  J.  Komanes,  when  discussing  the  subject  of 
the  "  purposive  determination  on  the  part  of  unicellular 
organisms,"  states,  "it  is  of  course  unquestionable  that 
all  the  activities  in  question  are  highly  suggestive  of 
intelligence  ;  but,  to  say  the  least,  it  is  equally  possible 
to  suppose  that  all  these  activities  may  be  due  to 
special  endowments  which  have  been  gradually  con- 
ferred by  natural  selection  on  highly  specialised,  though 
wholly  unintelligent  cells,  for  the  purpose  of  more  and 
more  efficiently  discharging  their  special  functions."  1 

Each  species  of  unicellular  being  has  a  specific 
hereditary  molecular  structure,  and  a  definite  locomo- 
tory  apparatus  ;  so  that  if  their  living  substance  is 
in  good  working  order,  and  they  are  placed  in  a  like 
environment,  their  movements  should  be  identical ; 
but  the  individuals  forming  a  crowd  of  any  one  species 
hustle  and  bustle  about  in  all  directions.  Isolated 
beings  are  propelled  here  and  there,  by  means  of  their 
celia,  apparently  in  search  of  food,  which  if  they  cannot 
secure  in  one  place,  the  action  of  their  locomotory  organs 
are  reversed  and  the  organism  follows  some  other  course. 

The  question  is  from  what  source  is  the  energy  de- 
rived which  directs  these  movements.  In  the  higher 
animals  we  know  their  movements  are  controlled  by 
nervous  energy  derived  from  a  specialised  form  of  matter 

1  "  The  Open  Court,"  July  11,  1889,  p.  1718. 


IN   PLANTS  23 

located  in  their  central  nervous  system.  The  uni- 
cellular beings  have  no  differentiated  nervous  or  any 
other  structures,  but  that  is  no  reason  why  their  living 
substance  should  not  contain  elements  capable  of 
transforming  energy  into  action,  tending  to  serve  the 
needs  of  these  simple  forms  of  living  beings  in  their 
struggle  for  existence.  We  have  shown  that  out  of 
what  appears  to  be  homogeneous  living  protoplasm 
germinal  matter  is  developed  under  certain  conditions 
of  the  environment.  Doubtless,  it  is  difficult  to  realise 
the  existence  in  the  living  elements  of  a  bacterium  of 
purposive,  guiding  elements  of  matter ;  indeed,  the 
complex  nature  of  the  forces  at  work  in  effecting  the 
simplest  biological  processes  are  well-nigh  unthinkable  ; 
and  to  grasp  the  idea  of  processes  such  as  those  entailed 
in  purposive  action,  requires  not  only  the  full  exercise 
of  our  thoughts  but  also  of  our  powers  of  imagination. 
But  processes  of  this  kind  seem  quite  possible  when  we 
are  dealing  with  matter  which,  from  a  minute  particle 
of  its  substance  produces  a  thinking,  speaking,  being. 

If,  however,  the  combination  and  mutual  action 
of  certain  elements  of  living  matter  constitute  the 
basis  substance  out  of  which  sensitivity,  memory,  and 
spontaneous  purposive  action  are  elaborated,  it  is 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  protoplasm  of  plants, 
as  well  as  that  of  unicellular  animals,  should  manifest 
phenomena  of  a  similar  kind. 

The  sensitivity  of  plants  to  various  modes  of  energy 
is  such  a  well-established  fact  that  it  is  unnecessary 
for  us  to  dwell  on  this  subject. 

Professor  S.  Vines,  in  his  Lectures  on  the  Physiology 
of  Plants,  refers  to  the  motility  of  their  various  structures 
in  relation  to  what  he  terms  phototaxis  ;  a  term  which, 


24 


THE  EVOLUTION  OP  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 


as  before  stated,  Strasburger  has  employed  to  describe 
the  action  produced  by  light  on  the  movements  of 
plants.  Vines  states  that,  in  addition  to  the  periodical 


FIG.  1  (after  Stahl).— Sections  of  the  phylloid  stem 
of  Lemna  trisulca  A,  Position  of  the  chlorophyll- 
corpuscles  when  the  stem  is  exposed  to  intense  light. 

B,  Position  of  the  corpusc'es  in  diffused  daylight. 

C,  Position  of  the  corpuscles  in  darkness.    ("  Physio- 
logy of  Plants,"  by  S.  H.  Vines,  p.  300.) 

movements  of  plants,  the  changes  in  the  position  of 
chlorophyll  bodies  are  the  result  of  phototaxis,  and  he 
dwells  on  the  influence  which  heat,  chemical  energy, 
and  other  forces  exercise  on  the  movements  of  plants 
(Fig.  1).'  He  attributes  this  action  to  the  transmutation 


ITS    ACTION    IN    PLANTS  25 

of  energy  effected  by  the  molecular  structure  of  their 
living  protoplasm.1  The  kind  and  degree  of  these 
movements  depending  on  differences  in  the  sensitivity 
possessed  by  their  protoplasm,  which  in  its  turn  depends 
on  the  store  of  potential  energy  it  has  acquired,  and 
continues  to  gain,  from  the  chemical  energy  it  receives 
from  the  environment.2  Professor  Vines  goes  on  to 
contrast  these  movements  with  those  which,  as  he 
states,  result  from  spontaneous  action,  and  describes 
the  living  structures  by  means  of  which  such  move- 
ments become  manifest,  the  transformation  of  energy 
by  the  living  molecules  of  their  protoplasm  becoming 
apparent  in  the  form  of  motility,  heat,  etc.3  As  an 
instance  of  such  action  reference  is  made  to  the  scatter- 
ing of  pollen  by  Stylidium  adnatum,  and  to  the  move- 
ments of  the  foliage  leaves  of  Leguminosse.  Professor 
Vines  adds  that  these  "  spontaneous  movements," 
from  constant  repetition  on  the  molecular  structure 
of  the  protoplasm,  mould  it  into  such  a  form  that  its 
movements  come  to  be  habitual.4  We  have  referred 
to  the  fact,  that  the  living  matter  of  the  simplest  forms 
of  organisms  naturally  responds  to  specific  modes  of 
energy ;  much  the  same  state  of  affairs  is  manifested 
by  the  protoplasm  of  plants.  Thus  the  tentacles  of 
the  Drosera  rotundifolia  require  to  be  touched  several 
times  before  any  movements  occur,  and  they  react 
better  to  the  continued  contact  of  small  bodies  than 
to  coarser  impacts.  These  tentacles,  however,  re- 
spond readily  to  chemical  stimuli.  The  tentacles  of 
Drosera  become  inflected  much  more  rapidly  when 
bodies  placed  on  their  leaves  contain  nitrogenous  sub- 

1  Vines,  p.  525.  2  Idem,  p.  525. 

3  Idem,  pp.  536,  507.  4  Idem,  pp.  536,  567. 


26      THE  EVOLUTION  OP  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

stances  which  can  be  absorbed  by  the  plant,  such  as 
raw  meat,  fragments  of  insects,  etc.  (see  p.  18). 
Ammonia  gas  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  chemical 
irritants ;  exposure  to  it  induces  movements  in  all 
irritable  motile  organs ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  vapour 
of  chloroform  inhibits  these  movements,  producing 
chemical  changes  in  the  molecular  action  of  the  living 
protoplasm,  and  so  interfering  with  its  supply  of  potential 
energy  or  working  power. 

The  memory  of  plants  consists  essentially  of  the 
trace  or  record  of  a  stimulus  left  on  certain  elements 
of  its  living  protoplasm,  a  memorial  impression,  built 
up  by  modes  of  energy  which  for  the  time  being  may 
cease  to  act.  Thus  if  a  sleeping  plant  is  placed  in  a 
dark  room  after  it  has  gone  to  sleep  at  night,  it  will 
be  found  next  day  in  the  light  position,  and  will  assume 
the  nocturnal  position  as  evening  comes  on — we  have, 
in  fact,  what  seems  to  be  a  habit  built  into  the  living 
protoplasm  by  the  alternative  of  night  and  day.  The 
plant  normally  drops  its  leaves  at  the  stimulus  of  dark- 
ness and  raises  them  at  the  stimulus  of  light.  But 
here  we  see  the  leaves  rising  and  falling  in  the  absence 
of  the  accustomed  stimulus.  Since  this  change  of 
position  is  not  due  to  external  conditions,  it  must  be 
the  result  of  the  internal  conditions  which  habitually 
accompany  the  movements.  This  is  the  characteristic 
par  excellence  of  habit,  namely,  a  capacity,  acquired  by 
repetition,  of  reacting  to  a  fraction  of  the  original 
stimulus  : 1  a  process  which  becomes  easier  and 
more  rapid  by  repetition,  and  in  the  higher  organisms 
is  recognised  as  the  phenomena  of  memory,  association, 
habit-formation,  and  learning. 

1  President's  Address  to  the  British  Association,  1908. 


ITS    ACTION   IN   PLANTS  27 

Professor  F.  Darwin  goes  on  to  observe,  "  it  is  impos- 
sible to  know  whether  or  not  plants  are  conscious ;  but 
it  is  consistent  with  the  doctrine  of  continuity  that  in 
all  living  things  there  is  something  psychic,  and  if  we 
accept  this  point  of  view  we  must  believe  that  in  plants 
there  exists  a  faint  copy  of  what  we  know  as  conscious- 
ness in  ourselves." 

We  concur  in  this  opinion,  if  we  may  be  allowed 
to  interpret  the  term  "  something  psychic  "  to  mean 
the  inherent  property  possessed  by  the  living  matter 
of  unicellular  beings,  of  performing  work  directed  by 
purposive  elements — that  is,  by  action  adapted  to 
control  the  movements  of  these  organisms  for  their 
own  benefit :  matter  which,  as  we  have  before  re- 
marked, like  the  nervous  system  of  the  higher  animals, 
guides  the  action  of  their  motory  substance. 

From  the  above  facts  we  learn  that  the  difference 
between  the  phenomena  presented  by  the  living  matter 
of  animals  and  of  plants  is  one  of  degrees  ;  their  funda- 
mental properties  are  identical,  and  among  these  we 
recognise  memory-like  and  purposive  qualities.  The  life 
cycle  of  plants  do  not  require  a  high  development  of 
their  purposive  living  elements,  such  as  is  necessary 
to  ensure  the  existence  of  the  various  classes  of  animals. 
Plants  take  in  from  the  soil  and  the  atmosphere  all 
that  is  necessary  for  their  maintenance,  growth,  and 
reproduction,  and  have  no  need,  therefore,  for  instinctive 
or  intellectual  processes  to  enable  them  to  hold  their 
own  in  the  struggle  for  existence  ;  their  power  of  adapta- 
tion to  their  environment  is,  however,  remarkable. 
Darwin,  in  his  later  years,  freely  admitted  that  the 
hereditary  character  of  changes  of  structure  and  func- 
tions were  effected  not  only  in  plants,  but  also  in 


28      THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

animals,  as  a  result  of  the  direct  action  of  their 
environment.  He  wrote  as  follows  to  Professor  Moritz 
Wagner : l — 

"  The  greatest  mistake  I  made  was,  I  now  think,  that 
I  did  not  attach  sufficient  weight  to  the  direct  influence 
of  food,  climate,  etc.,  quite  independently  of  natural 
selection.  When  I  wrote  my  book,  and  for  some  years 
later,  I  could  not  find  a  good  proof  of  the  direct  action 
[i.e.  in  producing  definite  variations]  of  the  environment 
on  the  species.  Such  proofs  are  now  plentiful." 
Leaves  of  a  beech  tree  developed  in  the  deep  shade 
of  the  middle  of  the  tree  are  so  different  in  structure 
from  leaves  grown  in  full  sunlight  that  they  would 
unhesitatingly  be  described  as  belonging  to  different 
species.  Professor  Henslow  has  for  the  last  forty 
years  insisted  on  the  fact  that  the  origin  of  function 
and  of  structure  in  plants  results  from  the  inherent 
responsiveness  of  their  living  matter  to  the  environ- 
ment, and  he  has  brought  forward  incontestable  evidence 
to  prove  that  structural  changes  thus  induced  in  the 
course  of  time  become  hereditary  characters.2  Pro- 
fessor Henslow  remarks,  "  I  will  here  pause  to  repeat 
that  my  object  in  giving  all  the  preceding  details 
is  not  to  propose  any  theory  whatever,  but  to  show  on 
what  facts  the  two  conclusions  are  based,  viz.:  (1) 
that  all  structures  arise  by  direct  adaptation  to  response  ; 
and  (2)  that  they  may  or  may  not  be  hereditary.  The 
condition  for  the  latter  is  solely  a  question  of  time 
in  the  number  of  generations  which  have  been  sub- 
jected to  the  same  conditions  of  life."  3  The  reader 

1  "  Life  and  Letters,"  vol.  iii.  p.  159. 

2  "  The  Heredity  of  Acquired  Characters,"  by  the  Rev.  Professor 
G.  Henslow,  pp.  21,  49. 

3  Idem,  pp.  22,  78. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER      29 

is  referred  to  this  author's  work  on  "  Alpine  and  Arctic 
Plants,"  as  well  as  to  his  book  from  which  we  have 
quoted,  for  the  details  concerning  the  evidence  upon 
which  he  relies  in  making  the  above  statement.  The 
facts  on  which  he  bases  his  conclusions,  so  far  as  we 
can  ascertain,  are  incontrovertible,  and  in  our  opinion 
are  sufficient  to  establish  the  truth  of  his  reasoning  on 
this  subject. 

The  evidence  we  have  adduced  in  the  preceding 
pages  appears  to  us  sufficient  to  prove  the  influence 
which  various  fprms  of  stimuli  or  energy  exercise  on 
the  simplest  forms  of  living  matter  ;  and  we  may  add, 
from  long- continued  and  careful  observation  of  the 
movements  of  these  beings,  we  have  arrived  at  the  convic- 
tion that  they  are  directed  by  purposive  energy.  The 
protoplasm  of  the  simplest  known  forms  of  organism 
contains  somatic  and  germinal,  and  we  believe,  pur- 
posive elements.  The  somatic  elements  carry  on  the 
work  of  nutrition,  the  repair  of  the  substance  of  the 
organism,  and  the  protection  of  its  germinal  substance  ; 
the  latter  perpetuates  the  species ;  and  the  purposive 
elements  transmutes  energy  derived  from  the  response  of 
the  living  matter  to  various  stimuli,  into  action  tending 
to  promote  the  well-being  of  the  organism.  The  somatic 
elements  become  progressively  developed  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  environment  and  natural  selection  into 
complex  structures.  With  this  structural  development 
there  is  a  corresponding  evolution  of  the  purposive 
elements,  first  into  matter  having  instinctive  functions, 
and  finally,  in  the  mammalia,  into  psychical  matter, 
a  fact  we  shall  endeavour  to  demonstrate  in  the  follow- 
ing chapters  of  this  work. 


CHAPTER  II 

WE  have  shown  that  the  movements  of  unicellular 
organisms  are  attributable  to  the  action  of  their  living 
protoplasm  when  charged  with  potential  energy,  de- 
rived from  physico-chemical  processes.  A  portion 
of  this  energy  is  released  in  response  to  various 
stimuli  received  by  the  living  matter  from  external 
and  internal  sources,  and  becomes  manifest  in  pur- 
posive action  tending  to  promote  the  well-being  of  the 
organism.  Matter  possessing  these  properties  is  capable 
of  retaining  impressions  made  upon  it  by  repeated 
stimuli  received  from  various  sources,  and  these  im- 
pressions may  be  re-excited  and  brought  into  play  by 
the  action  of  similar,  or  by  other  forms  of  stimuli  to 
those  which  had  produced  the  original  impression. 
We  have  now  to  show  that  in  animals  purposive 
elements  become  evolved  simultaneously  with  their 
increasing  structural  complexity  arising  out  of 
their  struggle  for  existence.  It  seems  desirable, 
therefore,  in  the  first  place,  to  give  a  brief  account 
of  the  development  of  the  nervous  system  of  various 
classes  of  animals,  for  it  is  in  the  living  substance  of 
their  ganglionic  nerve-cells  that  we  find  the  clearest 
evidence  of  the  action  of  purposive  matter. 

Sponges  probably  represent  a  divergent  branch 
sprung  from  an  ancestral  stock,  from  which  they,  and 
other  families  of  multicellular  organisms  were  derived ; 

30 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 


31 


but  the  sponges  appear  only  to  possess  a  limited  range 
of  evolutionary   capacity.     They  constitute,    however, 


FIG.  2.— Diagram  of  a  ganglionic  nerve-cell  (neuron). 
d  d  d,  dendrons;  n,  nucleus  and  nucleolus  ;  ac,  axis-cylin- 
der; m,  medullary  sheath;  *,  neurilemma ;  t,  terminal 
branches. 

the  simplest  existing  family  of  multicellular  animals, 
built  up  of  cell-units  which  are  less  specialised  than  in 
other  forms  of  multicellular  beings,  and  therefore  able 


32      THE  EVOLUTION  OP  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

to  perform  a  variety  of  functions  either  simultaneously 
or  at  different  times  during  their  life  cycle. 

The  sponges  for  the  most  part  remain  fixed  to  rocks 
or  other  solid  materials  beneath  the  surface  of  the 
sea ;  their  food  is  contained  in  the  surrounding  water 
which  percolates  through  the  substance  of  the  organism, 
consequently  sponges  do  not  require  the  aid  of  sensory 
organs  or  prehensile  and  other  structure  to  enable 
them  to  secure  their  supply  of  nutriment. 

The  simplest  form  of  sponges  may  be  compared  to 
a  hollow  vase  or  sac,  its  walls  being  formed  of  a  mass 
of  living  cells,  the  bulk  of  which  are  perforated 
by  a  passage  or  canal,  one  end  opening  externally, 
the  other  into  the  animal's  central  body  cavity. 
The  surrounding  water  passes  through  these  passages 
which  are  lined  with  the  living  substance  of 
the  cell.  The  supply  of  water  entering  these  canals 
is  regulated  by  the  action  of  contractile  fibrils  which 
surround  the  external  openings  of  the  canals,  and  also 
by  the  sensitive  living  matter  which  constitutes  the 
walls  of  the  canal  system.1 

The  living  protoplasm  of  this,  the  simplest  class  of 
multicellular  animals,  forms  as  it  were  a  link  between 
that  of  the  unicellular  beings,  and  the  next  higher 
class  of  multicellular  animals  (Polyps)  in  that  the  outer 
layer  of  cells  contains  living  matter,  which  produces 
somatic  and  germinal  elements. 

Passing  from  the  sponges  to  the  next  higher  class 
of  animals  (Ccelentera)  which  constitute  the  most 
important  branch  of  the  original  stock  from  which 
multicellular  animals  are  derived,  and  which  include 
among  its  members  such  well-known  beings  as  the 

1  "  Human  Speech,"  p.  103. 


INTO    MUSCLE    AND    NERVE    CELLS  33 

Polyps  (Hydroids),  and  also  Jelly-fishes  (Medusoids). 
The  small  yellow  or  green  polyps  afford  us  an  ex- 
ample of  this  order  of  animals  ;  their  bodies  consist  of 
an  outer  layer  of  cells  (ectoderm),  and  of  an  inner  layer 
(endoderm),  between  these  we  find  a  thin  lamina 
(mesoglcea),  which  affords  support  to  the  soft  structures 
of  the  animal's  body  substance.  One  end  of  the  polyp 
terminates  in  an  opening  which  communicates  with  the 
central  cavity  of  the  animal's  body.  Surrounding 
this  opening  a  number  of 
hollow  arms  or  tentacles 
project  outwards,  forming 
free  and  movable  members. 
The  living  substance  of 
some  of  the  sensitive  ex- 
ternal layer  of  cells  of  the 
animal's  body  and  tentacles, 

is       prolonged        from  the         FIG.    3.  —  Tactile     sensory-cell    of 

,       ,               ,                  .  Hydroid,    its    protoplasm    being   pro- 

attacnea      SUrtace       OI  tne      longed  into  contractile  muscle-  or  motor- 

,,                                     .  cell.     (After  Lendenfeld.) 

cell    into   what   is    known 

as  a  muscle- cell.  From  these  contractile  muscle- 
cells  protoplasmic  processes  pass  to  become  con- 
nected with  the  middle  layer  (mesoglcea),  and  by 
their  action  on  this  layer  they  cause  movements 
of  the  animal's  body  and  tentacles  to  take  place 
(Fig.  3). 

From  some  of  the  outer  layer  of  cells  of  the  bodies 
and  tentacles  of  polyps,  upstanding  protoplasmic 
filaments  may  be  seen  ;  these  processes  grow  out  from 
the  living  substance  of  these  cells.  From  the  opposite 
or  deep  surface  of  these  cells  processes  of  living  matter 
pass  into  the  subjacent  structures  and  there  develop 
into  nerve-cells  (Fig.  4).  The  nerve-cells  send  off 


34 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 


branches  which  communicate  with  neighbouring  muscle- 
cells,  and  also  with  fibrils  passing  from  other  nerve-cells.1 
A  stimulus  or  cause  of  excitation  acting  on  the  free 
outstanding  filament  of  a  system  such  as  that  referred 
to,  is  conducted  to  the  living  substance  of  the  cell, 


FIG.  4. — B,  Sensory-cell  connected  with  ganglionic  nerve-cell.  <7,  Protoplasmic 
fibre  of  a  tactile  sensory-cell  forming  nodular  enlargements  (nerve-cells  ?).  Z>,  Cnido- 
blast  connected  with  ganglionic  nerve-cell  by  a  protoplasmic  fibre  (Medusoid). 

and  by  it  is  transformed  into  energy  which  passes  to 
the  purposive  elements  of  subjacent  nerve- cells,  becom- 

xThe  constant  excitation  of  definite  functions  gradually  effects 
certain  structural  modifications.  Accordingly  these  paths  of  con- 
duction become  anatomically  differentiated  from  their  surroundings, 
and  the  nerves  develop  into  independent  anatomical  tissue.  In  the 
protoplasmic  structures  of  plants  under  the  action  of  stimuli 
fibrillar  strands  may  be  produced,  which  represent  the  channels 
along  which  energy  is  more  readily  transmitted  than  through  the 
general  protoplasm. — "Introduction  to  Study  of  Physiological 
Psychology,"  by  Dr  T.  Ziehen,  p.  7 ;  and  Professor  A.  J.  Ewart, 
"  Streaming  in  Plants,"  p.  102. 


INTO   NERVOUS   STRUCTURES 


35 


cL 


ing  manifest  in  movements  effected  by  the  animal's 
body  and  tentacles.  The  outstanding  process  has  been 
compared  to  the  trigger  of  a  gun,  which,  by  the  action 
of  external  force,  sets  free  a  portion  of  the  potential 
energy  of  the  substance  contained  in  the  cartridge,  and 
leads  to  the  discharge  of  the  bullet,  by  force  comparable 
to  that  of  the  nervous  energy  which  becomes  manifest 
in  the  movements  of  a  polyp's  body  and  tentacles. 
It  is  to  be  noticed  that  the  stimulus  or  energy  acting 
on  the  protoplasmic 
trigger  is  derived  from 
the  environment,  and 
that  the  purposive  action 
comes  into  play  and 
directs  this  force  into 
appropriate  movements. 

In  addition  to  the 
free  projecting  tactile 
filaments  we  have  re- 
ferred to,  other  pro- 
toplasmic processes  may 
be  seen  especially  on  a 
hydroid's  tentacles.  These 
filaments  pass  outwards  on  Zooloe>''"  Part  ij-  P-  17>  The  Hydro- 

1T16UUS6. ) 

from  the  living  matter  of 

cells  known  as  cnidoblasts,  each  of  which  contain  a 
barbed  filament,  the  living  substance  of  the  cnidoblast 
being  connected  by  means  of  a  protoplasmic  fibre  with 
a  subjacent  nerve- cell.  Under  certain  conditions  the 
animal  can  discharge  a  multitude  of  these  barbed 
fibres  with  force,  employing  them  as  weapons  of  offence 
or  of  defence  as  its  circumstances  may  require  (Fig.  4). 
The  Jelly-Fishes  (Medusoids)  differ  from  polyps  in 


FIG.  5.— Diagram  of  a  Medusoid  (Sarsia). 
;»,  manubrium ;  es,  external  surface  of 
bell ;  sb,  subumbral  surface  ;  v  v,  velum  ; 
SM,  subumbral  cavity;  cl,  curcular  canal ; 
t  tl,  tentacles.  (After  Lankester's"  Treatise 


36 


THE  EVOLUTION  OP  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 


form ;  they  may  be  represented  by  a  little  animal  with 
a  very  long  name,  the  Gomonemus  murbachii.  These 
jelly-fish  have  been  compared  in  form  to  an  umbrella 
having  a  short  handle,  or  to  a  bell  with  a  clapper ;  the 
upper  convex  surface  is  known  as  the  ex-umbrella,  the 
lower  concave  surface  is  the  sub-umbrella,  and  the 
handle  is  the  manubrium  (Fig.  5). 

The  margin  of  the  umbrella  or  bell  is  fringed  with 
tentacles,  and  a  shelf-like  layer  projects  inwards  from 

the  lip  of  the  bell ;  this  layer 
is  known  as  the  velum.  The 
free  extremity  of  the  manu- 
brium forms  the  animal's 
mouth ;  it  communicates 
with  a  passage  leading  to 
the  gastric  cavity,  from 
which  four  canals  radiate 
through  the  body  of  the 
animal  to  open  into  a  canal 
which  passes  round  the  cir- 
cumference of  the  bell. 

Beneath  the  layer  of  cells  which  line  the  surface 
of  the  manubrium,  velum,  and  the  under  surface  of 
the  bell,  we  find  an  intricate  meshwork  of  nerve-fibres, 
derived  for  the  most  part  from  two  rows  of  ganglionic 
nerve-cells  which  form  a  chain  encircling  the  margin 
of  the  bell  (Fig.  6).  At  the  base  of  the  tentacles  and 
margin  of  the  bell  there  are  a  multitude  of  various 
descriptions  of  sensory  organs,  each  of  which  has  become 
structurally  adapted  to  receive  the  different  forms  of 
stimuli  which  act  upon  them  from  without,  and  to 
transmute  such  forces  into  energy  capable  of  effecting 
a  discharge  from  the  subjacent  nerve-cells,  which  be- 


FIG.  6. 


IN    THE    ECHINODERMS 


37 


comes  manifest  in  work  performed  by  the  muscular 
fibres  of  the  animal  whereby  its  various  movements 
are  effected. 

Passing  from  the  Hydromedusse  to  the  next  higher 
class  of  animals  known  as  the  Echinoderms,  which 
include  the  starfish  with  its  body  and  five  radiating 
arms  and  their  numerous  ambulacral  feet  or  muscular 
tubes  which  end  in 
a  plate  or  suckers. 
By  means  of  these 
suckers  the  feet 
cling  to  any  solid 
substance  that 
comes  within  reach 
of  the  animal's 
arms.  The  nervous 
structure  of  these 
Invertebrata  con- 
sists mainly  of  a 
central  system 
which  always  re- 
tains  strong'indica-  J^'-^'S™,  totZTSJKi V 

tionS  Of  its  epithelial    moil,th;  6>  Peripheral  nerves  of  the  arms.    (J.  Loeb, 
f  p.  61.) 

origin.     It  forms  a 

ring  surrounding  the  animal's  mouth  from  which 
nerves  radiate  to  each  of  the  arms  and  gives  off 
branches  to  the  various  muscular  structures,  including 
those  of  the  ambulacral  feet  (Fig.  7). 

In  the  snake-armed  starfish  (Ophiocoma  echinata) 
a  second  or  deep  system  of  motor  nerves  exists,  the 
superficial  system  at  the  same  time  being  sensory  in 
function. 

The  sensory  organs  of  this  class  of  animals  are  but 


38 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 


£\ a 


ill  developed,  and  like  the  nervous  system  are  derived 
from  differentiated  forms  of  the  outer  sensitive  layer 
of  living  matter.  Pigment  cells  exist  in  elevations  of 
the  ends  of  the  tentacles  and  are  known  as  eye  specks, 
they  lie  on  separate  points  of  the  "  optic  pad  "  and  are 
connected  to  subjacent  ganglionic  cells  by  means  of 
nerve  fibres,  and  in  this  way  also  with  the  general 
nervous  system  of  the  animal. 

The  flat  worms  (Platy- 
helmia)  are  mostly  para- 
sitic, their  nervous  system 
as  a  rule  consists  of  a 
number  of  single  ganglionic 
nerve  cells  in  front  of  the 
pharynx  or  opening  which 
leads  to  the  animal's  diges- 
tive organs  (Fig.  8). 

The  nervous  system, 
although  less  immediately 
a  part  of  the  outer  (ecto- 
derm) layer  of  cells  than  is 
the  case  with  polyps  and 
jelly-fish,  is  nevertheless 
clearly  derived  from  the 
living  matter  of  this  layer. 

Leading,  as  most  of  the  flat  worms  do,  a  parasitic 
existence,  they  do  not  require  the  aid  of  a  high  order 
of  sensory  organs  to  enable  them  to  procure  their 
nourishment ;  some  of  them,  however,  possess  "  eye 
spots  "  situated  near  the  anterior  end  of  their  bodies, 
from  these  organs  protoplasmic  fibres  can  be  traced  to 
the  central  ganglionic" nerve  cells. 
The  segmented  group  of  worms  (Chsetopoda)  which 


IN   THE   CH^ETOPODA 


39 


includes  among  its  different  species  the  common  earth 
worm,  and  the  sea-mouse  (Aphrodite  aculeata)  which 
abounds  on  our  shores,  and  after  storms  are  frequently 
washed  on  to  the  beach.  The  central  ganglia  or  brain 
of  the  sea-mouse,  as  compared  with  that  of  one  of  the 
flat  worms,  is  a  complex  structure,  which  for  anatomical 
purposes  may  be  divided  into  a  fore  and  mid-brain  ; 
between  these  masses  of  nervous  substance  a  third 


6.N. 


GL. 
G.C. 


r  c 

S:T-  F!B. 

FIG.  9. — Transverse  section  through  the  brain  of  Aphrodite  aculeata. 
x50.  C,  root  of  O3so;ihageal  connective;  FB.  fore-brain;  GC,  gan- 
glion cells;  GL,  glomeruli ;  GN,  ganglionic  nuclei;  MB,  mid-brain  ; 
/&',  stalk  of  fungiform  body;  ST,  snpporting  tissue.  (Copied  from  Fig.  6, 
Cat.  Roy.  Coll.  Surgeons,  Physiological  Series,  p.  10.) 

aggregation  of  nerve  cells  and  fibres  exists,  from  which 
a  pair  of  stalk-like  processes  project  and  expand  into 
two  cellular  bodies  known  as  "  fungiform  masses," 
which  form  a  conspicuous  part  of  the  brain  of  bees 
and  other  insects.  Nerves  (0,  Fig.  9)  pass  from 
the  fore-brain  round  the  animal's  gullet  to  the  ventral 
nerve  cord,  from  which  sensory  and  motory  nerves 
are  given  off  to  each  segment  of  the  animal's  body 
(Fig.  10). 


40 


THE  EVOLUTION  OP  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 


c.n. 


n.c. 


The  next  higher  class  of  invertebrate  animals  is 
known  as  the  Arthropoda  of  which  the  Crustacea  form 
a  large  order  and  include  crayfishes,  crabs,  lobsters, 

shrimps,  etc.  The 
first  named  of  these 
animals  affords  a 
good  example  of  a 
crustacean  animal  so 
far  as  its  sensory 
organs  and  central 
nervous  system  are 
concerned. 

Fig.  11  represents 
a  section  made 
through  the  brain  of 
one  of  these  animals 
magnified  50  diame- 
ters, it  gives  an  idea 
of  the  complex  ar- 
rangement of  the 
nervous  structures 
entering  into  the 
formation  of  a  cray- 
fish's brain. 

TJ.   •      j.       i  ,•      j 

*«  1S    ^O    D6  nOtlCCQ 

±.~L.    4.    o.r 

tliau  Wie  nerVCS  pro- 

sub-o3sophageal  ganglion;  xg,  segmental  ganglia  «aaj-  „  *_..  +1  ~ 

giving  off  nerves  to  the  corresponding  segments  of  ^  eeuing  irom  tne 

animal's     eyes     and 

from  its  olfactory  sensory  organs  terminate  in  the 
nervous  substance  of  the  middle  segment  of  the 
brain.  In  this  area  of  the  brain  two  descriptions 
of  nerve  cells  may  be  recognised  in  some  of  the 
larger  Crustacea,  the  one  set  of  cells  are  of  small  size 


FIG.  10.—  Diagram  of  nervous  system  of  a  Chteto- 
pod.  B,  brain;  en,  cephalic  nerves  to  supply 
sense  organs  of  anterior  end  of  the  worm;  nc. 
nerve  cord  passing  from  the  brain  to  seg,  the 


INTO   SENSORY   AND   MOTOR   CELLS  41 

and  polygonal  in  form,  the  other  are  large  pyramidal 
cells ;  the  former  we  recognise  as  constituting  the 
sensory  receptive  station  for  afferent  or  incoming  energy 
passing  to  it  from  the  sensory  organs.  The  large 
pyramidal  cells  we  have  reason  to  hold  contain  the 
motory  elements  from  which  energy  is  despatched  to 
the  muscles  of  the  animal's  body.  This  part  of  the 
brain  therefore  corresponds  with  that  which  in  the 
higher  classes  of  animals  is  known  as  the  basal  ganglia.1 
This  area  of  the  brain  constitutes  the  central  station 
for  lines  of  communication  passing  from  the  principal 
sensory  organs  of  the  animal's  head  and  body,  and  its 
office  is  to  co-ordinate  this  energy  and  direct  it  into 
forms  of  activity  calculated  to  promote  the  well-being 
of  the  organism. 

It  will  be  noticed  on  referring  to  the  figure  that  the 
fungiform  matter  (GN,  ganglionic  nuclei  of  Fig.  11) 
is  more  highly  developed  in  the  crayfish  than  it  is  in 
the  brain  of  the  sea-mouse,  and  that  it  passes  into 
direct  connection  with  the  middle  segment  of  the  brain. 
We  have  reason  to  think  that  this  nervous  substance 
is  in  some  way  related  to  the  amount  of  intelli- 
gence displayed  by  the  various  orders  of  this  class  of 
animals. 

The  eyes  of  the  crayfish  are  highly  complex  organs 
formed  of  a  multitude  of  visual  rods  isolated  by  pig- 
ment cells,  one  extremity  of  the  rod  is  turned  to  the 
external  world,  while  the  other  end  encloses'  the  end 
of  one  of  the  fibres  of  the  optic  nerve.  The  rod  forms 
the  instrument  by  which  the  refracted  rays  of  light 
are  brought  to  bear  on  the  specialised  kind  of  nervous 
matter  at  the  base  of  the  rod,  which  transmutes  energy 

1  "  The  Origin  of  Vertebrates,"  by  Professor  W.  H.  Gaskell. 


42 


THE  EVOLUTION  OP  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 


it  receives  into  a  form  capable,  through  the  action  of 
the  central  optic  ganglia,  of  exciting  the  sensation  of 
light.  In  front  and  above  the  animal's  mouth  are  a 
pair  of  long  antennae  or  feelers,  these  are  kept  in  per- 


PC..U. 


O.T. 
\ 


.C.RC.L 


.61. 


.GB. 


$?* 


C.'GB. 


T.C. 


FIG.  11.  — Horizontal  section  through  the  brain  of  Astacus  fluviatilis.  x  40. 
CC,  corpus  centrale;  COB,  commissure  of  globuli;  CPCL,  commissures  of  proto- 
cerebral  lobes;  DC,  deutocerebrum;  GB,  globulus;  GL,  glomeruli;  QN,  ganglionic 
nuclei;  OD,  decussating  bundle  of  optic  tract;  OT,  optic  tract;  PCL,  proto- 
cerebral  lobe;  TC,  tritocerebrum.  (Cat.  Physl.  Series,  Museum  Roy.  Coll.  Surgeons, 
vol.  ii.  p.  22  ) 

petual  motion  and  form  delicate  organs  of  touch  ;  they 
are  supplied  with  nerves  proceeding  from  the  middle 
segment  of  the  brain. 

We  may  now  proceed  to  describe  some  of  the  move- 
ments made  by  the  animals  to  which  we  have  referred, 


INTO   INSTINCTIVE   MATTER  43 

in  order  to  demonstrate  that  these  movements  depend 
on  something  more  than  a  chain  of  reactions  to  external 
stimuli,  although  these  latter  are  all  important  in  the 
evolution  and  the  working  of  the  system  through  means 
of  which  these  movements  are  effected. 

Mr  G.  Wagner  has  made  a  careful  and  interesting 
set  of  observations  on  some  of  the  movements  and 
reactions  of  the  polyp  known  as  Hydra  viridis,  and 
we  have  been  able  to  confirm  the  conclusions  he  has 
arrived  at  from  experiments  carried  out  on  the  lines 
he  followed.  If  one  of  these  animals  is  placed  in  a 
position  so  as  to  prevent  its  being  disturbed  by 
mechanical  or  other  stimuli,  it  nevertheless  makes 
quite  an  extensive  series  of  movements,  so  as  to  explore 
the  surrounding  space  in  quest  of  food.  Many  of  these 
movements  are,  as  Mr  Wagner  states,  "  the  result  of 
internal  physiological  changes,  these  may  very  properly 
be  termed  spontaneous." l  The  animal  effects  its 
purpose  by  bending  its  body  over  to  one  side  and  then 
stretching  out  a  tentacle  in  advance  and  clinging  by 
it  to  a  fixed  spot,  it  then  loosens  its  foothold  and  brings 
its  body  up  to  the  spot  to  which  the  tentacle  had  become 
fixed ;  this  movement  is  repeated  and  the  animal  thus 
passes  from  one  place  to  another  in  search  of  a  new 
feeding  ground. 

With  regard  to  the  response  which  the  body  of  a 
polyp  makes  to  localised  mechanical  stimuli,  it  is  to 
be  noticed  that  as  a  whole,  to  whatever  part  of  the 
body  or  tentacles  the  stimulus  is  applied,  "  there  takes 
place  a  series  of  general  movements  of  flexion — as  if 

1  Quarterly  Journal  of  Microscopical  Science,  Feb.  1905,  p.  598. 
George  Wagner,  M.A.,  on  "  Some  Movements  and  Reactions  of 
Hydra." 


44      THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PUEPOSIVE  MATTER 

the  animal  wishes  to  make  itself  smaller,  and  offer 
less  surface  to  the  pain  "  (of  the  prick).1 

A  like  movement  is  made  under  similar  conditions 
by  an  amoeba ;  the  polyp  in  contracting  becomes 
more  clearly  spherical,  and  so  reduces  its  exposed 
surface  to  the  source  of  irritation.  It  is  this  reduction 
of  the  surface  of  the  body,  and  thus  the  chance  of  escap- 
ing from  injury,  which  constitutes  the  adaptative  value 
of  the  contraction  in  Hydra.  There  is  no  movement  to, 
or  from  the  point  irritated,  the  animal's  substance 
contracts  as  a  whole,  and  beyond  this,  if  after  repeated 
movements  of  this  kind  the  animal  cannot  rid  itself 
of  the  stimulus,  it  abandons  its  foothold  and  moves 
away  from  the  source  of  irritation. 

If  a  morsel  of  raw  meat  be  placed  on  one  of  the  ten- 
tacles of  a  polyp  the  limb  contracts,  at  the  same  time 
its  other  tentacles  move  up  to  the  food  which  is  thus 
grasped  and  carried  to  the  animal's  mouth  ;  the  ten- 
tacles then  leave  the  meat,  and  return  to  their  former 
position.  Action  of  this  description  only  takes  place 
in  response  to  the  irritation  excited  by  food;  a 
mechanical  stimulus  alone  will  not  call  forth  a  food 
reaction.  Mr  Wagner  therefore  arrives  at  the  con- 
clusion that  reactions  of  this  description  are  the  result 
of  chemical  energy  derived  from  the  food  substance, 
combined  with  mechanical  energy  the  result  of  the 
contact  of  the  foreign  substance  with  the  living  matter 
of  the  tentacle  on  which  it  rests.  We  concur  in  his 
opinion,  but  it  seems  to  us  the  action  of  the  other  ten- 
tacles, and  their  contortions  and  contractions  so  as  to 
bring  the  food  to  the  animal's  mouth,  have  only  to  be 
watched  in  order  to  convince  us  that  the  purposive 

1  Wagner,  p.  598. 


INTO    INSTINCTIVE    MATTER  45 

action  of  the  living  matter  is  clearly  a  quantity  to  be 
reckoned  with  in  determining  the  cause  of  movements  of 
this  kind. 

If  the  surface  of  a  polyp  is  irritated  at  a  number  of 
points,  as  for  instance,  by  a  brush  of  fine  bristles,  or  of 
spun  glass,  a  discharge  of  its  nematocysts  takes  place  ; 
a  result  which  would  seem  to  depend  on  a  release  of 
energy  from  the  living  matter  of  the  cnidoblast  (p.  35) 
guided  by  its  purposive  action  on  the  motory  elements 
of  the  cell. 

The  sensory  organs,  nervous  system  and  general 
structural  arrangement  of  a  jelly-fish  are  of  a  higher 
order  than  those  of  a  polyp.  In  like  manner  its  move- 
ments are  more  complicated,  and  that  they  are  co- 
ordinated by  impressions  received  through  the  sensory 
organs  and  the  chain  of  ganglionic  nerve-cells  which 
surround  the  margin  of  the  bell,  is  proved  by  the  follow- 
ing experiment. 

If  the  entire  margin  of  the  bell  of  a  jellyfish  is  re- 
moved so  that  the  excised  portion  consists  of  an  un- 
broken ring  to  which  the  animal's  tentacles  are  attached, 
and  which  contains  the  bulk  of  its  sensory  organs,  and 
the  whole  of  its  double  chain  of  ganglionic  nerve  cells  ; 
mechanical  and  chemical  stimuli  applied  to  the  surface 
of  the  tentacles  or  to  the  excised  margin  of  the  bell, 
induce  the  same  kind  of  movements  of  the  tentacles 
as  those  which  can  be  produced  by  stimulating  these 
parts  of  the  body  of  an  uninjured  animal.  But  after 
the  removal  of  the  margin  of  the  bell,  stimuli  applied 
to  the  cut  surface  or  any  other  part  of  the  swimming  bell 
fails  to  elicit  any  response  in  the  way  of  movement 
or  otherwise.  This  state  of  affairs  tends  to  confirm 
the  idea  regarding  the  controlling  influence  exercised 


46      THE  EVOLUTION  OP  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

by  specialised  elements  of  the  living  substance  of  the 
combined  sensory  organs  and  corresponding  ganglionic 
nerve  cells,  over  the  purposive  movements  of  the  simplest 
class  of  the  Coelentera. 

If  medus88  are  kept  without  food  for  some  days, 
and  a  small  piece  of  raw  meat  is  then  held  some  three 
inches  from  the  animal,  its  tentacles  are  stretched  out 
towards  the  food,  and  if  they  fail  to  reach  the  meat, 
the  animal's  body  moves  to  the  food,  several  of  its 
tentacles  then  twine  round  the  morsel  of  meat  which 
they  carry  up  to  its  mouth  ;  the  manubrium  and  sub- 
stance of  the  bell  assist  in  this  movement.  The 
tentacles  having  deposited  the  food  in  the  animal's 
mouth,  leave  it  there  and  return  to  their  original 
position. 

With  reference  to  these  movements  Mr  Romanes 
observes — I  conclude  that  in  the  margin  of  all  naked- 
eyed  medusae  which  I  have  examined,  there  is  situated 
an  intensely  localized  system  of  centres  of  spontaneity, 
having  at  least  for  one  of  its  functions  the  organisation 
of  impulses  to  which  its  contraction  under  ordinary 
circumstances  are  exclusively  due.  Confirmed  by  the 
behaviour  of  the  severed  membrane  which  continues 
its  rhythmical  contractions  with  vigour  and  pertinacity 
not  in  the  least  impaired  by  its  severance  from  the  main 
organism,  so  that  the  contrast  between  the  perfectly 
motionless  swimming  bell  and  the  active  contraction 
of  its  severed  margin  is  as  striking  a  contrast  as  it  is 
possible  to  conceive.  Hence  if  the  margin  be  left  in 
situ  while  other  portions  of  the  swimming  bell  are 
mutilated  to  any  extent,  the  spontaneity  of  the  animal 
is  not  at  all  interfered  with.  He  adds,  when  nerve- 
cells  are  collected  into  ganglia,  they  often  appear  to 


INTO   INSTINCTIVE   MATTER  47 

discharge  their  energy  spontaneously  ;  so  that  in  all 
but  the  very  lowest  animals  whenever  we  see  apparently 
spontaneous  action  we  infer  that  ganglia  are  present.1 

The  explanation  of  the  co-ordinate  action  of  the 
muscle  fibres  above  referred  to  appears  to  us  to  depend 
on  the  fact  that  in  the  ganglionic  nerve-cells  of  Medusoids, 
purposive  elements,  such  as  those  which  exist  in  the 
living  matter  of  the  Protozoa,  have  become  more  highly 
specialised.  The  ganglionic  cells  are  in  communication 
with  one  another  and  with  corresponding  sensory  organs  ; 
when  the  latter  are  stimulated  their  released  energy 
passes  to  the  subjacent  nerve- cells,  and  through  the 
medium  of  its  purposive  elements  becomes  manifest 
in  the  contraction  of  definite  sets  of  muscle  fibres,  and 
in  this  way  the  various  movements  of  the  animal  are 
effected. 

Mr  Romanes  states  thatjtf  a  sea-anemone  is  placed  in 
an  aquarium  tank  and  allowed  to  fasten  upon  one  side 
of  the  tank  near  the  surface  of  the  water,  and  if  a  jet 
of  sea  water  is  made  to  play  continuously  and  forcibly 
upon  the  anemone  from  above,  the  result  is  that  the 
animal  becomes  surrounded  with  a  turmoil  of  water 
and  air  bubbles.  After  a  short  time  the  anemone  be- 
comes so  accustomed  to  this  turmoil  that  it  will  expand 
its  tentacles  in  search  of  food,  just  as  it  does  when 
placed  in  calm  water.  If  now  one  of  the  expanded 
tentacles  is  gently  touched  with  a  solid  body,  all  the 
others  close  around  that  body  in  just  the  same  way  as 
they  would  were  they  expanded  in  calm  water ;  al- 
though the  solid  stimulus  is  clearly  less  intense  than  that 
offered  by  the  bubbles. 

1  The  International  Scientific  Series.  "  Jelly-fish,  Starfish,  and 
Sea  Urchins,"  by  G.  J.  Romanes,  pp.  28,  25. 


48      THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

We  pass  on  from  the  Hydromedusse  to  the  Echino- 
dermata  which  include  the  starfishes  among  its  mem- 
bers (p.  37).  If  a  starfish  is  laid  on  its  back,  the 
tube  feet  of  its  arms  are  extended  and  moved  about 
in  all  directions  until  the  tips  of  one  or  more  of  them 
turns  over  and  touches  the  underlying  surface  upon 
which  the  animal  is  laid,  its  ventral  tube  feet  cling 
to  this  surface,  and  acting  from  these  fixed  points  the 
animal  is  able  in  the  course  of  a  few  minutes  to  turn 
and  assume  its  normal  position.  If,  however,  before 
placing  the  animal  on  its  back,  the  nerves  passing 
from  the  central  nervous  system  to  the  arms  are  divided, 
no  co-ordinate  action  of  the  limbs  is  possible,  but  each 
limb  moves  on  its  own  account ;  movements  of  this 
description  can  be  accounted  for  by  the  presence  of 
ganglionic  nerve- cells  located  among  the  tissues  con- 
stituting the  arms ;  it  is  for  the  same  reason  that  pur- 
posive movements  of  an  amputated  starfish's  limb 
takes  place  and  will  right  itself  if  laid  on  its  dorsal 
surface. 

Starfish  can  not  only  crawl  about  by  aid  of  their 
tube  feet  along  the  bottom  of  an  aquarium,  but  also 
up  its  vertical  glass  surfaces.  If  a  piece  of  raw  meat 
is  placed  some  six  inches  from  a  starving  starfish,  the 
animal  at  once,  and  with  precision,  crawls  up  to  the 
food,  and  if  on  reaching  it  the  meat  is  withdrawn, 
the  animal  follows  it,  and  can  thus  be  led  about  from 
one  place  to  another. 

These  animals  are  extremely  sensitive  to  light,  but 
if  their  eye  spots  are  removed  they  no  longer  respond 
to  this  form  of  stimuli. 

W.  Preyer  states  that  he  selected  a  starfish  belonging 
to  a  species  having  slender  arms,  and  slipped  a  piece 


INTO   INSTINCTIVE   MATTER  49 

of  rubber  tubing  over  the  middle  part  of  one  of  these 
limbs.  The  starfish  tried  to  get  rid  of  the  ring  by 
rubbing  the  arm  against  the  ground,  shaking  it  by 
holding  it  aloft  and  waving  it  pendulum-like  in  the  air, 
holding  the  ring  against  the  ground  with  a  neighbouring 
limb,  and  putting  the  affected  arm  out  while  pressing 
the  other  limbs  against  the  ring  and  so  endeavouring 
by  all  manner  of  movements  to  get  rid  of  it.  Should 
all  these  efforts  fail,  as  a  last  resource  the  animal  casts 
off  the  limb.  Preyer  ascribes  action  of  this  kind  to 
intelligence,  holding  that  it  was  a  new  experience  to 
the  starfish  to  have  one  of  its  arms  enclosed  and  thus 
pinched  continuously,  and  that  in  adapting  means  to 
free  itself  from  this  state  of  things  it  evinced  intelligence.1 
It  would  seem  that  some  of  the  simplest  orders  of 
worms  possess  what  we  may  best  describe  as  memories  ; 
for  example,  on  certain  parts  of  the  coast  green  masses 
may  be  seen  floating  on  the  surface  of  the  sea,  on  closer 
inspection  these  masses  are  found  to  consist  of  ciliated 
worms  (Convoluta).  These  beings,  as  the  tide  recedes, 
are  left  on  the  sand,  and  they  instantly  proceed  to  bury 
themselves  in  its  substance.  The  Convolutse  remain 
in  the  sand  until  the  returning  tide,  when  they  emerge 
from  it  and  take  up  their  position  again  on  the  surface 
of  the  water.  The  animal  thus  acquires  a  habit ; 
and  if  then  removed  from  the  sea  and  placed  in  the  still 
water  of  an  aquarium  it  continues  to  float  on  the  surface 
for  a  time  and  then  to  sink  to  the  bottom  of  the  vessel, 
thus  continuing  their  periodical  action  independently 
of  tidal  influences.2  They  rise  and  fall,  as  they  and 
their  ancestors  had  been  accustomed  to  do  with  the 

1  "  The  Animal  Mind,"  by  M.  F.  Washburn,  p.  215. 

2  "  La  Naissance  de  1'Intelligence,"  par  Dr  Bohn,  p.  150. 
D 


50      THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

rise  and  fall  of  the  tide,  and  having  acquired  this  habit 
or  memory  which  is  distinctly  purposive  in  its  action, 
it  continues  in  operation  when  placed  in  different 
conditions  ;  because  the  elements  constituting  a  portion 
of  their  living  substance  had  become  moulded  into  a 
specific  form,  its  work  becoming  manifest  in  the  move- 
ments made  by  the  animal. 

The  careful  way  in  which  worms  plug  the  openings 
leading  to  their  burrows  attracted  Darwin's  attention. 
In  the  first  place  he  found  quite  young  worms  followed 
this  practice,  which  was  therefore  more  or  less  an 
inherited  habit.  In  a  large  percentage  of  trials  it 
was  found  that  worms  draw  leaves  and  pieces  of  paper 
into  their  holes  by  their  narrowest  ends,  in  this  way 
the  leaf  or  other  substance  could  most  readily  be  carried 
into  the  burrow.  Worms  excavate  their  burrows 
either  by  pushing  away  the  earth  on  all  sides,  or  by 
swallowing  it.  The  burrow  is  invariably  lined  with  a 
thin  layer  of  fine  dark-coloured  earth  voided  by  the 
animal,  this  lining  becomes  very  compact  and  closely 
fits  the  worm's  body.  The  mouths  of  the  burrows  are 
in  addition  often  lined  with  leaves  quite  apart  from 
those  employed  to  plug  the  opening.  Pine  leaves 
may  be  used  to  form  this  lining  and  are  then  plastered 
over  and  made  to  cohere  to  one  another.  The  object 
of  this  seems  to  be  to  form  a  smooth  and  warm  lining 
to  the  upper  part  of  the  burrow  where  the  worms  are 
accustomed  to  remain  for  a  long  time.  If  the  burrow 
passes  far  into  the  ground  it  usually  terminates  in  a 
little  enlargement  or  chamber,  where  the  worm  remains 
during  the  winter  rolled  up  in  a  ball.1 

1 "  The  Formation  of  Vegetable  Mould,"  by  Charles  Darwin, 
pp.  84,  104. 


INTO   INSTINCTIVE   MATTER  51 

The  common  crayfish  (Astacus  fluviatilis)  is  a  well- 
known  denizen  of  many  of  our  streams  in  this  and 
other  countries,  where  it  may  be  seen  during  the  warm 
weather  walking  along  the  bottom  of  the  shallow  water 
by  means  of  its  four  pair  of  pointed  limbs  in  search  of 
food.  At  other  times  we  see  it  at  the  mouth  of  the 
burrow  it  has  made  in  the  banks  of  a  stream,  barring 
the  entrance  with  its  great  claws,  and  with  protruded 
feelers  keeping  watch  on  passing  larva,  insects,  water- 
snails  and  other  objects,  which  it  seizes  by  means  of 
its  anterior  powerful  limbs,  and  carries  to  its  mouth. 

The  compound  eyes  of  a  crayfish  are  admirably 
adapted  to  appreciate  the  movements  of  objects  passing 
before  them.  The  animal  makes  use  of  its  claws  to 
seize  these  moving  objects,  showing  that  it  sees  them 
and  can  appreciate  their  distance  from  its  body. 

From  experiments  made  by  Professor  Yerkes,  and 
J.  B.  Hugins,  on  the  crayfish  (Cambarus  affinis)  it 
appears  that  these  Crustacea  have,  to  some  extent,  the 
power  of  learning  from  experience,  or  as  these  scientists 
hold,  the  animal  after  passing  through  a  series  of  re- 
actions drops  those  movements  that  are  unsuccessful, 
so  that  the  animal,  "  on  being  after  an  interval  of 
time  placed  in  the  same  situation,  the  unsuccessful 
movements  are  fewer,  and  further  repetition  causes 
them  to  be  dropped  off  entirely."  l  Whether  this  is  the 
method  by  which  a  crayfish  learns,  or  whether  it  acquires 
knowledge  by  the  registration  of  useful  impressions 
made  on  its  nervous  system  by  external  stimuli,  which 
are  re-excited  by  appropriate  modes  of  energy  and 

1  See  Professor  H.  S.  Jennings,  Jour.  Comp.  N enrol,  and  Psychol., 
1906,  p.  343,  on  "  trial  and  error"  in  his  paper  on  "  Behaviour  of 
the  Lower  Organisms." 


52  THE   EVOLUTION   OF   PURPOSIVE   MATTER 

become  manifest  in  movements  such  as  those  to  which 
we  have  referred,  must  be  left  as  an  open  question  ; 
the  fact  however  remains,  that  if  a  crayfish  is  placed 
in  a  box  one  end  of  which  communicates  with  an 
aquarium  in  which  the  animal's  food  is  kept,  and  "  half- 
way down  the  length  of  the  box  a  partition  put  longi- 
tudinally divides  the  box  into  two  passages,  one  of 
which  is  closed  at  the  end  by  a  glass  plate  ;  in  sixty 
trials,  the  crayfishes  which  had  originally  chosen  the 
correct  passage  50  per  cent,  of  the  times,  came  to  choose 
it  90  per  cent,  of  the  times.  A  second  series  with  a 
single  animal  upon  which  more  tests  per  diem  were 
made,  resulted  in  the  formation  of  a  perfect  habit  in 
two  hundred  and  fifty  experiments.  The  glass  plate 
was  then  shifted  to  the  other  passage,  and  the  crayfish 
was  naturally  completely  baffled  for  a  time,  but  suc- 
ceeded in  learning  the  new  habit."  In  more  compli- 
cated labyrinths  the  animals  were  at  fault,  each  followed 
a  habit  of  its  own,  one  moving  directly  towards  the  food, 
hunting  for  an  opening  near  it,  and  then  going  to  the 
middle  where  the  opening  was ;  the  other  always 
following  the  edge  of  the  screen  all  the  way  round 
until  it  came  upon  the  opening.1 

Movements  such  as  those  above  referred  to  are  in- 
stinctive in  character,  that  is,  are  accomplished  by 
natural  hereditary  impulses,  performed  without  de- 
liberation, and  which  tend  more  or  less  directly  to 
secure  the  safety  and  well-being  of  the  animal.  Such 
for  instance  as  that  which  leads  the  duckling  untaught 
into  the  water,  the  beaver  to  build  its  hut,  the  bee  its 
comb,  the  hen  to  incubate  her  eggs,  etc.  Among 
these  instinctive  faculties  we  include  the  Emotional, 
1  "  The  Animal  Mind,"  by  M.  F.  Washburn,  p.  220. 


INTO    INSTINCTIVE    MATTER  53 

the  expresssion  of  anger,  pain,  pleasure,  and  so  on, 
are  bodily  manifestations  which  constitute  a  natural 
language  of  the  feelings,  and  are  of  a  uniform 
character  in  each  order  of  animals.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  the  Imitative  faculty,  among  which  we  may 
mention  the  song  of  birds,  and  the  barking  of  domesti- 
cated dogs. 

The  evidence  we  have  referred  to  in  the  preceding 
pages  shows  that  in  unicellular  organisms  the  body 
substance  as  a  whole  responds  to  the  action  of  the 
various  modes  of  energy  which  act  upon  it,  and  is  trans- 
muted into  a  form  capable  of  exciting  movements 
tending  to  the  well-being  of  the  organism.  In  the 
simpler  classes  of  multicellular  animals  the  elements 
which  in  the  lower  class  of  beings  were  purposive, 
have  become  differentiated,  and  form  a  part  of  the 
living  substance  of  certain  nerve  cells  which  on  the 
one  hand  are  in  direct  communication  with  the  sensory 
organs  or  receptors  of  energy,  and  on  the  other  hand 
with  motor  cells  which  discharge  energy  to  various  sets 
of  muscles. 

Following  up  the  development  of  nerve  cells,  we 
find  that  in  the  lower  classes  of  invertebrates  they  have 
become  gradually  concentrated  into  a  central  nervous 
system,  which  increases  in  its  complexity  pan  passu 
with  the  structures  forming  the  animal's  sensory  organs 
and  the  other  structures  of  their  bodies.  In  the  cray- 
fish we  find  this  system  has  advanced  so  far  that  we 
come  to  recognise  the  development  of  a  central  nervous 
station  which  receives,  and  may  become  impressed 
by  energy  passing  to  it  through  the  sensory  organs. 
From  this  sensory  centre  motor  impulses  pass  to  the 
muscles  of  the  body  and  limbs.  Many  of  the  move- 


54      THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

ments  made  by  these  animals  come  under  the  category 
of  instinctive  actions.  Work  of  this  kind  we  judge 
to  depend  on  a  specific  arrangement  of  the  molecules 
of  nervous  matter,  because,  if  this  matter  is  destroyed, 
although  other  organs  of  the  body  may  continue  to 
work,  all  instinctive  actions  are  abolished.  Beyond 
this  the  same  kind  of  activities  are  effected  by  widely 
dispersed  but  similar  species  of  animals,  they  are  there- 
fore hereditary  in  their  character,  and  must  depend 
on  the  action  of  one  and  the  same  description  of  ele- 
ments. We  hold  that  this  matter  has,  therefore,  been 
evolved  out  of  simpler  purposive  elements,  being  adapted 
to  the  requirements  of  a  higher  order  of  beings  than  those 
in  which  simple  purposive  action  was  sufficient  to  direct 
the  forces  acting  on  their  living  substance,  into  move- 
ments capable  of  providing  for  their  nourishment  and 
reproduction.  We  conceive  that  those  orders  of  beings 
which  have  come  most  completely  into  harmony  with 
their  environment,  through  means  of  their  various 
sensory  organs,  are  those  which  survive  and  improve 
in  their  struggle  for  existence. 

In  the  following  chapter  we  propose  illustrating 
our  ideas  on  this  subject  by  referring  to  the  instinctive 
processes  displayed  by  various  species  of  insects. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  central  nervous  system  of  insects  consists  of  a 
brain  (cerebral  ganglia)  and  of  a  chain  of  ganglia  which 
extend  along  the  ventral  part  of  the  animal's  body, 
and  in  many  instances  are  found  to  have  undergone 
concentration  longitudinally :  in  some  insects  these 
ganglia  become  completely  fused  together.  From  this 
chain  of  nervous  matter  sensory  and  motor  nerves  are 
given  off  to  the  animal's  body.  This  chain  of  ganglia 
is  continued  upwards  into  the  cephalic  ganglia  or  brain, 
which  for  anatomical  purposes  is  described  as  the  fore- 
brain,  mid-brain,  and  hind-brain. 

The  fore-brain  in  insects  consists  of  the  optic  ganglia 
together  with  two  masses  of  nervous  substance  which 
are  united  in  the  mid-line  by  communicating  fibres. 
In  connection  with  these  lobes  we  find  well-developed 
masses  of  nervous  substance,  which  we  have  referred 
to  as  existing  in  the  Crustacea  under  the  name  of  "  fungi- 
form  bodies."  In  the  sea-mouse  rudimentary  structures 
of  this  description  exist,  in  the  crayfish  they  are  more 
highly  developed ;  they  reach  their  highest  state  of 
perfection  in  insects.  For  instance,  in  the  working 
bee,  the  fungiform  bodies  form  two  deeply  concave 
masses  of  nervous  matter,  situated  near  the  dorsal 
surface  of  the  brain.  On  section  they  are  found  to  consist 
of  ramifications  of  the  terminal  fibres  of  nerve-cells, 
these  cells  being  for  the  most  part  on  the  outer  surfaces 
of  these  structures.  Numerous  fibres  may  be  traced 

55 


56      THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

from  the  fungiform  bodies  to  form  connections  with 
centres  or  nuclei  of  nerve-cells  located  in  the  lobes  of 
the  brain ;  so  that  these  structures  bear  some  re- 
semblance to  the  cortical  matter  of  the  cerebral  hemi- 
spheres of  the  lower  vertebrates.  It  may  be  well, 
therefore,  to  state  that  within  the  same  order  of  beings 
the  size  of  the  fungiform  bodies  increase  in  proportion 
to  the  intelligence  of  the  insect,  and  among  social 
forms  they  may  even  vary  in  development  between 
the  persons  of  the  society ;  being,  for  instance, 
proportionately  larger  in  the  worker  bee  than  in  the 
drone  or  queen.1 

The  nervous  structures  connecting  the  lobes  of  the 
fore-brain  may  be  separated  into  two  bands,  from  one, 
nerves  supply  the  eyes,  the  other  band,  which  lies  in 
the  centre  of  the  brain  is  the  meeting-place  of  fibres 
from  the  fungiform  bodies,  and  from  the  optic  and 
antennary  lobes. 

The  mid-brain  constitutes  the  antennary  lobes,  they 
are  two  in  number  united  by  transverse  fibres.  These 
lobes  give  off  the  larger  part  of  the  antennary  olfactory 
nerves. 

Each  half  of  the  hind-brain  gives  off  a  bundle  of 
nerve  fibres  which  meet  in  the  mid-line  to  form  a  tri- 
angular ganglion  from  which  a  median  nerve  runs 
posteriorly  along  the  alimentary  canal.  This  ganglion 
also  supplies  nerves  to  the  sensory  organs  of  taste.2 

1  Mr  R.  H.  Burne,  Cat.  Phys,  Series  of  Comp.  Anatomy,  R.C.S. 
Museum,  p.  35 ;    also  M.  Dujardin,  An.  d.  Sci.  Nat.  t.  xiv.  p.  195, 
1850. 

2  The  above  description  of  the  brain  of  an  insect  is  taken  from 
Mr   E.    T.  Newton's  models.      See  specimen  D  27,    Phys.    Series, 
R.C.S.  Museum,  also  the  Museum  Cat.  p.  34,  and  the  Quart.  Journ. 
Micr.  Sci.,  vol.  xix.  1879,  p.  340. 


IN   INSECTS  57 

We  may  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  sensory  organs 
of  insects,  which  consist  of  structures  derived  for  the 
most  part  from  the  epidermis,  specially  modified  either 
in  the  form  of  single  or  groups  of  cells  which  act  as 
the  receptors  of  energy  derived  from  visual,  auditory, 
olfactory,  and  tactile  impressions.1 

The  visual  sensory  organs  of  insects  consist  of  com- 
pound eyes,  in  which,  what  superficially  appears  to  be 
a  single  eye  is  in  reality  an  aggregate  of  many  eyes, 
each  with  its  own  retina  and  dioptric  apparatus 
separated  from  its  neighbour  by  pigment-cells.2 

J.  Miiller  in  the  year  1826  taught  that  inasmuch 
as  definition  of  the  image,  i.e.  the  localisation  of  the 
luminous  rays,  depends  on  the  co-ordination  of  the 
impressions  made  through  the  facets  on  the  nervous 
apparatus  of  the  eye,  the  degree  of  definition  therefore 
varies  with  the  number  of  facets.  We  can  understand 
why  this  should  be  the  case,  and  that  the  co-ordination 
of  stimuli  received  from  different  parts  of  an  object 
which  reach  the  nervous  structures  at  the  base  of  the 

1  It  is  probable  that  the  non-nervous  elements  of  the  various 
sensory  organs  that  first   receive  the  external  stimulus  act  like  a 
sieve,  arresting  certain  qualities  of  the  exciting  energy  and  per- 
mitting certain  other  qualities  to  pass  on,  so  as  to  act  on  the  specialised 
living   nervous   substance   of   the   various  sensory  centres.     These 
receptors  of  energy  have  thus  a  certain  power  of  selection  or  natural 
fitness  developed  by  means  of  the  action  of  their  environment  or 
struggle    for   existence. — (Professor   T.    Ziehen,    "  Introduction    to 
Physiological  Psychology,"  pp.  40.  42.)     As  we  have  shown  after 
leaving  a  sensory  organ  by  nerve  paths,  energy  becomes  subjected 
to  further  selection  through  the  action  of   an  interrupted  system 
of  dendrons,  so  that  by  the  time  it  reaches  the  living  matter  of  the 
cerebral  ganglionic  cell  it  may  be  said  to  have  assumed  a  specific 
form. 

2  R.   H.   Burne,  Asst.   Curator,   Roy.  Co.  Surgeons   of  England, 
Cat.  R.C.S.  Museum,  Physiol.  Series,  vol.  iii.  p.  302. 


58      THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

visual  rods,  is  the  work  of  the  ganglionic  cells  of  the 
optic  lobes  of  the  brain.1 

The  motions  of  ether  that  produce  light  do  not  act 
directly  on  the  retinal  termination  of  the  optic  nerve, 
but  produce  chemical  changes,  or  motions  in  the  retina. 
It  is  the  result  of  these  chemical  processes  that  act  as 
stimuli  upon  the  distribution  of  the  optic  nerve  in  the 
retina. 

Professor  Graber,  from  experiments  made  on  some 
of  the  lower  invertebrates,  came  to  the  conclusion,  that 
after  he  had  removed  the  eyes  of  these  beings  they 
still  responded  to  the  influence  of  light,  for  when  thus 
mutilated  they  move  from  the  chemical  to  the  calorific 
spectrum.  Graber  therefore  concludes,  that  these 
animals  perceive  light  by  means  of  the  skin,  and  that 
in  their  natural  condition  the  action  of  light  reaches 
their  brains  through  the  cutaneous  surface  of  their 
bodies.  There  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  existence 
of  the  response  of  the  surface  of  living  beings  to  the 
stimulus  of  light,  but  that  is  a  very  different  thing  from 
distinguishing  for  instance  a  blue  from  a  red  object. 
The  dermatropic  sensations  referred  to  by  Graber, 
as  A.  Forel  remarks,  do  not  enable  the  eyeless  animal 
to  see  by  the  skin  ;  it  only  feels  the  light,  its  degree, 
and  length  of  its  waves.2  These  experiments,  however, 
emphasise  the  importance  which  sun-light  exercises 
not  only  on  the  lower,  but  on  the  metabolic  processes 
of  every  form  of  living  matter. 

The  visual  power  of  insects  depends  largely  on  the 
form  and  the  number  of  facets  possessed  by  the  outer 

1  "  The  Senses  of  Insects,"  by  A.  Forel,  pp.  69,  129,  translated 
into  English  by  Macleod  Yearsley,  F.R.C.S. 

2  Idem,  p.  69. 


IN   INSECTS  59 

surface  of  the  eye ;  for  instance,  the  prominent  convex 
eye  of  the  dragon-fly  is  said  to  contain  from  12,000  to 
17,000  facets.  We  can  form  an  idea  of  the  acuteness  of 
vision  possessed  by  these  insects  if  we  try  to  catch  one  of 
them  hovering  over  a  pond.  The  dragon-fly  will  allow 
us  to  approach  our  net  j  ust  near  enough  to  miss  catching 
it,  when  off  he  darts,  seeming  almost  able  to  measure 
the  length  of  the  handle  of  our  net,  for  the  insect  re- 
peatedly flies  off  just  out  of  reach  of  the  net  in  spite 
of  all  the  trouble  we  take  to  hide  it.  Butterflies  and 
flies  are  evidently  able  to  measure  the  distance  from 
them  of  near  objects. 

Wasps  can  judge  the  size  and  colour  of  inert  objects 
by  the  aid  of  their  eyesight.  Thus  if  some  dead  flies 
are  placed  together  with  other  insects  on  a  table  in  a 
room  where  there  are  wasps,  a  wasp  will  soon  fly 
down  and  without  hesitation  alight  on  a  dead  fly,  which 
he  will  carry  off,  and  this  process  will  be  repeated  over 
and  over  again  without  the  wasp  taking  any  notice 
of  the  surrounding  dead  insects.  On  the  other  hand, 
ants  and  bees  have  defective  vision  for  small  moving 
objects  at  a  distance,  because  the  facets  of  their  eyes, 
on  whose  axis  such  an  object  is  projected,  receive  addi- 
tional rays  from  too  many  other  surrounding  objects.1 
Insects  possessing  compound  eyes  direct  their  flight 
by  sight,  distinguishing  colours,  objects  and  distances 
by  means  of  their  visuo-sensory  apparatus. 

The  olfactory  sensory  organs  of  insects  consist  of 
adaptations  of  epidermal  living  matter  to  receive  and 
transmute  a  special  form  of  energy  into  one,  which  on 
reaching  certain  cerebral  centres  becomes  manifest  in 
the  sensation  we  designate  as  odours.  By  the  sense 

1  Forel,  pp.  11,  13. 


60      THE  EVOLUTION  OP  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

of  smell  therefore  we  mean  the  response  made  by  a 
specialised  system  of  living  matter  to  definite  modes 
of  energy  (stimuli)  derived  from  certain  bodies.1 

The  olfactory  sensory  organs  of  insects  are  located 
on  their  antennae,  where  they  exist  among  the  stiffer 
tactile  setae ;  they  are  supplied  by  terminal  branches  of 
the  antennary  nerves  which  arise  from  ganglionic  cells 
located  in  the  olfactory  lobes  of  the  animal's  brain. 
These  sensory  organs  are  not  situated  on  precisely 
the  same  part  of  the  antennae  in  all  orders  of  insects, 
but  as  a  rule  they  are  to  be  found  on  its  terminal  free 
portion,  in  the  form  of  structures  which  have  been 
shown  to  consist  essentially  of  modified  hairs.2 

It  has  been  demonstrated  by  Lord  Avebury  and 
A.  Forel  that  the  different  genera  of  ants,  who  under 
ordinary  conditions  are  natural  enemies  and  light  to 
the  death  when  they  meet,  after  having  had  their 
antennae  excised  may  be  kept  together  in  the  same 
box  where  they  live  on  friendly  terms.  Having  no 
antennae,  and  therefore  no  sense  of  smell,  they  fail  to 
recognise  their  diversity  of  genera,  they  can  in  fact 
no  longer  distinguish  friend  from  foe.  Male  insects 
after  their  antennae  have  been  removed  do  not  recog- 
nise the  female,  they  will  pass  close  to  their  favourite 
food  without  noticing  it ;  they  guide  themselves  by  the 
sense  of  smell,  and  when  their  antennae  are  removed, 
fail  to  retrace  their  way  home  from  a  distance,  or  to 

1  There  are  hardly  any  metallic  or  other  bodies  which  do  not  mani- 
fest, especially  on  friction,  odours  of  their  own.     Berthelot  calculates 
that  one  gramme  of  iodof  orm  only  loses  the  hundredth  of  a  milligram 
in  a  hundred  years,  though  continuously  emitting  a  flood  of  odor- 
iferous particles  in   all   directions. — "The    Evolution   of  Matter," 
Le  Bon,  p.  237. 

2  "  The  Senses  of  Insects,"  Forel,  p.  94. 


IN   INSECTS  61 

recognise  their  companions  when  they  reach  their 
nests. 

If  an  ant  is  smeared  with  fluids  pressed  from  the 
bodies  of  its  nest  companions,  and  then  put  back  among 
them,  they  take  no  notice  of  the  stained  insect.  But 
if  an  ant  is  smeared  with  fluids  pressed  from  the  bodies 
of  a  hostile  nest,  and  then  returned  among  its  com- 
panions, they  at  once  attack  and  kill  it.  Evidently 
it  is  of  the  odour  of  the  fluids  in  the  two  cases  which 
affect  the  actions  of  the  ants  through  impressions 
made  on  their  olfactory  sensory  organs,  which  pass 
through  the  antennary  nerves  to  the  olfactory  lobes  of 
the  insect's  brain  and  re-excites  impressions  previously 
established  in  its  nervous  substance. 

The  antennae  of  insects  are  remarkably  mobile,  so 
that  the  organs  of  smell  can  be  readily  turned  in  all 
directions,  this  fact  leads  one  to  suppose  the  sense  of 
smell  in  these  beings  may  give  them  ideas  of  space  and 
of  direction.  We  can  thus  account  for  the  fact  that 
ants  distinguish  the  right  and  the  left  side,  the  front 
and  back,  and  know  when  following  a  track,  in  what 
direction  they  are  following.  "  Finally,  pursuant  to 
the  laws  of  association,  it  allows  in  insects  an  olfactive 
memory  of  places  such  as  relational  sense  alone 
possesses."  l 

In  order  to  substantiate  the  fact  that  the  organs 
of  smell  are  located  on  the  antennae  of  flies  and  other 
insects,  we  may  refer  to  one  among  the  numerous 
experiments  which  A.  Forel  has  made  in  order  to  gain 
accurate  knowledge  concerning  this  point.2  He  placed 
the  body  of  a  dead  decomposing  mole  under  a  hemi- 
spherical wire  gauze  cover.  A  fly  (Sarcophaga  vivipara) 
1  Forel,  p.  98.  2  Idem,  p.  90. 


62      THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

soon  arrived  and  tried  to  gain  access  to  the  dead  animal. 
Forel  caught  the  fly,  and  after  destroying  its  eyes,  let 
the  insect  go.  It  flew  about  his  room,  knocking  itself 
against  the  ceiling  and  walls,  and  finished  by  falling 
on  the  floor  in  a  helpless  state.  He  then  removed  one 
of  the  fly's  wings  and  afterwards  placed  it  near  the 
mole  which  he  uncovered.  The  fly  went  directly  for 
the  dead  animal  and  began  to  feed  on  its  substance, 
and  quickly  recurved  its  ovipositor  and  laid  three  or 
four  eggs.  Forel  then  removed  the  insect's  antennae. 
From  that  moment,  despite  oft-repeated  trials,  the 
fly  paid  no  more  attention  to  the  mole  than  to  a  piece 
of  stone  or  a  bit  of  wood.  Placed  close  to  the  stinking 
mole  the  insect  no  longer  sought  to  direct  itself  towards 
the  carcase.  Other  flies  were  treated  in  the  same  way, 
except  that  their  eye-sight  was  not  destroyed,  but  after 
removal  of  their  antennae  they  invariably  ran  about, 
and  although  placed  on  the  mole  they  were  indifferent 
to  it,  and  without  exception  when  mutilated  in  this 
way  failed  to  lay  any  eggs  ;  so  much  impressed  was 
Forel  with  this  fact  that  he  is  inclined  to  think  that  the 
desire  to  lay  is,  with  these  insects,  a  "  general  sensation 
which  can  be  compared  to  a  sexual  appetite,  and  which 
is  provoked  by  an  olfactory  sensation  ;  for  it  ceases 
immediately  after  the  suppression  of  the  antennae ; 
whilst  other  lesions,  even  the  removal  of  the  eyes,  which 
is  more  dangerous,  do  not  hinder  it." 

Taste. — There  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  fact  that 
insects  as  a  rule  possess  the  power  of  distinguishing 
between  the  quality  of  certain  non-volatile  substances 
before  swallowing  them.  For  instance,  if  morphia 
or  strychnine  are  mixed  with  honey,  ants  attracted 
by  the  smell  of  their  favourite  food  begin  to  eat  the 


IN  INSECTS  63 

mixture,  but  after  taking  it  into  their  mouths  they 
leave  the  tainted  honey.  If  the  antennae  and  palpi 
of  wasps  are  removed  and  the  animal's  mouth  is  then 
brought  in  contact  with  honey  mixed  with  quinine, 
after  tasting  it  the  insect  immediately  turned  from  the 
honey. 

From  experiments  of  this  kind  it  appears  certain 
that  in  insects  the  sensory  organs  of  taste  are  located 
within  the  animal's  mouth,  and  consist  in  all  probability 
of  a  series  of  cup-like  depressions  connected  with  the 
terminal  distribution  of  subjacent  ganglionic  nerve- 
fibres.  These  pits  are  numerous  on  the  surface  of  the 
tongue  of  most  insects,  and  are  well  marked  especially 
near  the  tip  and  the  base  of  this  organ.  These  gang- 
lionic nerve- cells  are  brought  into  connection  with 
nervous  centres  located  in  the  subcesophageal  ganglion, 
and  possibly  with  nuclei  situated  in  the  hind-brain. 

Touch. — The  sensory  organs  of  touch  in  insects  essen- 
tially consist  of  structures  similar  to  those  possessed  by 
the  Hydromedus83  (p.  33),  being  formed  of  sensorial 
hairs  or  bristles  which  are  connected  with  the  living 
matter  of  certain  epidermic  cells  and  subjacent  nervous 
structures.  Modifications  of  this  mechanism  have  come 
into  existence  in  the  case  of  insects  in  consequence  of 
the  rigid  hard  materials  by  which  the  bodies  of  many 
of  them  are  enclosed.  The  tactile  sensory  organs  of 
insects  are  fairly  well  dispersed  over  the  whole  surface 
of  their  bodies,  but  are  specially  well  developed  on  their 
mobile  antennae  ;  their  palpi,  trochanters,  and  tarsi, 
are  also  regions  covered  with  tactile  nerve  terminations 
and  are  therefore  peculiarly  sensitive  to  touch. 

Vibrations  of  various  kinds,  but  especially  those  pro- 
duced mechanically,  affect  these  tactile  sensory  organs, 


64      THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

and  become  manifest  in  a  sensation  which  we  call 
touch  or  feeling ;  and  which,  as  is  the  case  with  the 
other  sensory  organs,  brings  previously  registered 
impressions  of  the  central  nervous  centres  into  play, 
whereby  relational  motory  actions  are  brought  into 
operation. 

If  we  carefully  watch  the  various  actions  of  spiders, 
it  seems  evident  that  they  depend  on  the  mechanical 
vibrations  of  their  webs,  the  tension  and  the  resistance 
of  which  guides  them.  Their  vision  is  imperfect, 
but  mechanical  vibrations  affect  the  whole  of  their 
bodies  through  its  action  on  their  tactile  sensory  organs, 
resulting  in  tactile  sensations,  and  particularly  the 
muscular  sensation,  and  corresponding  muscular  tension 
destined  to  re-establish  equilibration.1 

Hearing. — With  the  exception  of  crickets  and  a  few 
other  insects,  we  have  no  evidence  to  show  that  this 
class  of  animals  possess  the  sense  of  hearing.  They 
are  extremely  sensitive,  as  already  stated,  to  mechanical 
vibrations ;  but  to  auditory  waves  insects  give  no 
response.  We  may  make  as  much  noise  as  we  like  close 
to  a  bee  engaged  in  pillaging  flowers,  but  if  we  protect 
the  animal  from  the  mechanical  vibrations  of  our  breath 
or  movements,  he  takes  no  notice  of  the  noise  we  are 
making. 

From  the  preceding  statement  it  is  evident  that 
insects  possess  visuo-sensory  organs,  and  organs  of  smell, 
touch,  taste,  and  the  muscular  or  kinaesthetic  sense ; 
some  few  of  them  have  the  power  of  hearing.  Leading 
directly  from  each  of  these  receptors  of  energy  or  sensory 
organs,  nerve  fibres  pass  to  corresponding  ganglionic 
nervous  centres  located  in  definite  lobes  of  the  brain. 

lForel,  p.  111. 


IN  INSECTS  65 

These  cerebral  nervous  centres  are  in  intimate  com- 
munication with  one  another  by  means  of  protoplasmic 
processes,  and  the  whole  of  this  system  of  sensory 
organs  and  cerebral  centres  are  brought  into  close  relation 
with  the  nervous  matter  we  have  described  as  the 
"  fungiform  bodies,"  that  is  a  mass  of  nervous  substance 
which  reaches  its  highest  state  of  development  in  insects, 
or  that  class  of  invertebrates  in  which  instinctive  pro- 
cesses are  most  perfectly  developed.1 

Through  the  various  sensory  organs  a  flow  of  visual, 
olfactory,  tactile  and  other  forms  of  energy  are  con- 
stantly passing  during  an  animal's  working  hours 
to  the  living  matter  of  the  ganglionic  nerve  cells,  which 
constitute  the  cerebral  centres  for  vision,  smell  and  touch ; 
impressions  are  thus  made  on  this  living  matter  by 
these  various  stimuli.  These  impressions  become  more 
or  less  permanently  fixed  on  this  matter  according  to  the 
hereditary  structure  of  its  elements,  and  their  ability 
to  effect  its  metabolic  processes  in  a  satisfactory  manner. 

Impressions  thus  made  on  the  living  matter  of  certain 
brain-cells  are,  by  means  of  nerve  fibres,  brought  into 
intimate  relation  with  one  another,  the  system  thus 
formed  constituting  the  basis  substance  of  memory  ; 

1  Professor  W.  James,  in  his  "  Text-Book  of  Psychology,"  pp.  370, 
381,  391,  defines  Instinct  "  as  the  faculty  of  acting  in  such  a  way  as 
to  produce  certain  ends,  without  foresight  of  the  ends,  and  without 
previous  education  in  the  performance."  He  adds,  "  every  instinct 
is  an  impulse."  An  Emotion,  Professor  James  states,  "  is  a  tendency 
to  feel,  and  an  instinct  a  tendency  to  act,  characteristically,  when 
in  presence  of  a  certain  object  in  the  environment — emotions  are 
sensational  processes  due  to  inward  currents  set  up  by  physical 
happenings  ;  they  have  their  bodily  expression,  which  involves  strong 
muscular  activity,  and  it  becomes  a  little  hard  in  many  cases  to 
separate  the  description  of  the  '  emotional '  condition  from  that  of  the 
'  instructive  '  reaction  which  one  and  the  same  object  may  produce." 


66  INSECTS'  MEMORY 

in  that  these  impressions  are  reproduced  and  co-ordinated 
by  energy  received  from  like  stimuli  to  those  which 
produced  the  original  impression  or,  it  may  be,  by 
energy  derived  from  other  sources.  Memorial  im- 
pressions in  their  turn  play  on  specific  nervous  elements 
whose  action  becomes  manifest  in  instinctive  movements. 

That  insects  possess  memories  is  demonstrated  by 
their  actions,  for  instance  Professor  J.  Loeb  states 
that  a  wasp  (Ammophila)  had  made  a  hole  in  a  flower- 
bed in  his  front  yard.  Towards  noon  he  saw  a  wasp 
running  along  the  side  walk  of  the  street  in  front  of 
his  yard  carrying  a  caterpillar  in  its  mouth  ;  the  weight 
of  the  caterpillar  prevented  the  wasp  from  flying.  The 
yard  was  separated  from  the  street  by  a  cemented 
stone  wall  up  which  the  wasp  repeatedly  made  an 
attempt  to  climb,  but  kept  falling  back.  The  insect 
failing  to  scale  the  wall  then  ran  round  the  bottom  of 
it  until  it  reached  an  opening  through  which  it  crept 
into  the  yard.  Then  crawling  through  the  fence  which 
separated  the  two  yards  it  dropped  the  caterpillar 
near  the  foot  of  a  tree,  and  flew  away.  After  a  short 
zigzag  flight  it  alighted  on  a  flower  bed  in  which  were 
two  holes.  The  wasp  soon  left  the  bed  and  flew  back 
to  the  tree,  stopping  twice  on  the  road.  It  then  landed 
on  the  caterpillar  it  had  left  and  dragged  it  into  its 
hole  which  it  then  covered  with  sand.  In  this  train 
of  action  we  have  clear  evidence  as  to  the  fact  that  the 
wasp  was  guided  by  memory.1 

Again,  if  some  honey  was  placed  on  a  disc  of  white 
paper  on  a  table,  a  wasp  soon  appeared  and  settled 
down  on  the  disc  to  eat  the  honey ;  having  taken  all  it 

1  "  Comparative  Physiology  of  the  Brain  and  Psychology,"  by 
Professor  J.  Loeb,  p.  225. 


MEMORY    OF    INSECTS  67 

wanted  it  flew  away,  but  soon  returned  and  went  directly 
to  the  disc  for  more  food ;  having  satisfied  herself  she 
again  flew  away.  This  disc  was  then  replaced  by  a 
similar  one  without  honey,  and  another  disc  of  the  same 
size  as  the  former  one  was  placed  near  it  with  honey 
on  it.  The  wasp  returned  and  flew  directly  to  the 
small  disc,  but  rinding  nothing  on  it,  raised  herself  a 
little  in  the  air  and  alighted  on  the  disc  on  which  honey 
had  been  placed. 

Honey  was  then  smeared  on  white  paper  cut  into 
the  shape  of  a  cross  which  was  put  near  a  disc  without 
honey.  The  wasp  returned  and  soon  found  the  honey, 
and  having  fed  on  it  flew  away.  The  cross  was  then 
removed,  and  on  one  side  of  the  spot  on  which  it  had 
lain,  a  white  disc  was  placed,  and  on  the  other  side  a 
strip  of  paper  with  honey  on  it.  The  wasp  returned 
and  flew  straight  to  the  white  disc  ;  and  finding  no 
honey  flew  away,  but  soon  returned,  and  after  much 
searching  found  the  honey  on  the  white  strip. 

Another  band  without  honey  was  now  substituted 
for  the  band  with  honey,  and  a  cross  with  honey  on  it 
was  placed  the  same  distance  from  the  spot  where  the 
wasp  had  been  accustomed  to  feed.  The  insect  re- 
turned and  flew  direct  to  the  new  band  ;  finding  nothing 
on  it  she  found  her  way  to  the  cross.  Forel  remarks 
that  the  wasp  remembered  the  form  of  the  paper  on 
which,  at  each  visit,  she  had  found  a  supply  of  food, 
and  she  flew  directly  to  the  paper  having  the  size  and 
shape  of  that  off  which  she  had  fed  on  her  previous 
visit. 

Forel,  continuing  the  description  of  his  experiment, 
states  that — the  following  day  the  wasp  returned 
twice  to  eat  at  the  cross  left  in  the  same  place  as  on  the 


68      THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

previous  day.  He  then  removed  both  the  insect's 
antennae ;  she  flew  away  and  returned  in  half  an  hour 
to  eat  of  the  honey  on  the  cross.  After  her  departure 
a  similar  cross  without  honey  was  substituted  for  the 
first;  the  wasp  returned  and  alighted  directly  on  this 
cross  hoping  to  find  honey  there  as  usual.  Then, 
although  deprived  of  antennae,  she  began  to  search, 
doubtless  recollecting  that  the  white  papers  on  which 
the  honey  was,  had  already  often  changed  in  place 
and  aspect.  The  insect  had  lost  its  sense  of  smell,  but 
the  impressions  made  on  its  central  nervous  matter 
by  the  former  exercise  of  its  olfactory  sensory  organs 
remained,  and  were  brought  into  play  by  visual  and 
tactile  stimuli ;  the  instinct  existed  in  a  latent  state, 
and  was  put  in  motion  by  other  forms  of  energy  than 
those  which  first  produced  the  impression  on  the  central 
nervous  matter. 

Forel,  in  discussing  the  nature  of  the  instincts  of 
insects,  observes  that  their  purposeful  movements  are 
not  merely  reflex  or  simply  automatic,  but  very  well 
co-ordinated  ;  almost  all  prompted  by  the  combinations 
of  instinctive  reasoning  by  the  aid  of  sensorial  impressions, 
and  admirably  adapted  to  their  object.  He  adds,  we 
speak  here  of  the  directive  acts  of  the  individual  and 
social  life  of  insects,  of  their  "  will"  very  inferior 
no  doubt  to  that  of  vertebrates,  but  not  essentially 
different.1 

As  an  example  of  the  outcome  of  processes  above 
described  in  insects  we  may  mention  the  slave-making 
ants  (Polyergus  rufescens)  ;  these  insects  are  incapable 
of  tending  their  young  and  even  of  feeding  themselves. 
At  a  particular  period  of  the  year  when  the  nests  of  the 
1  Forel,  pp.  117,  118. 


INSTINCTIVE    PROCESSES    IN   INSECTS  69 

black  ants  contain  the  neuter  brood — at  a  given  signal 
made  by  certain  of  the  leaders  of  a  nest  of  red  ants, 
an  army  of  these  insects  leave  their  nest,  and  advance 
in  fairly  straight  lines,  the  vanguard  which  consists 
of  eight  or  ten  ants,  continually  falling  back  to  the 
rear.  In  some  cases  the  whole  army  separates  in  search 
of  nests  of  black  ants  (Formica  fusca  or  rufibarbis). 
At  last  a  nest  of  these  latter  species  having  been  found, 
a  signal  is  given  by  striking  the  forehead  of  a  neighbour  ; 
this  signal  is  passed  from  one  red  ant  to  the  other,  and 
.the  army  re-forms.  On  arriving  at  the  black  ants'  nest 
a  desperate  conflict  ensues,  which  ends  in  the  defeat 
of  the  negroes  ;  and  the  red  ants  then  enter  the  nest, 
and  leave  it  almost  instantly,  each  insect  holding  a 
larva  or  pupa  in  its  mandibles,  which  they  carry  home 
with  all  speed.  In  the  return  of  the  army  there  is 
never  any  hesitation  ;  the  olfactory  and  visual  memory 
of  the  outward  journey  is  sufficient  to  make  known 
to  each  ant  the  exact  road.  Having  reached  home 
the  red  ant  hands  over  the  stolen  larva  to  a  slave,  and 
as  a  rule  sets  off  immediately  to  the  pillaged  nest  if 
it  still  contains  more  larvae,  or  they  may  put  off  the 
return  journey  until  the  following  day.  Forel  states 
this  return  journey  is  never  made  if  the  pillaged  nest 
has  had  the  whole  of  the  larvae  removed ;  he  remarks 
"  the  fact  appears  to  me  to  furnish  irrefutable  proof 
of  their  memory.  They  must  remember  if  the  pillaged 
nest  still  contains  pupae  or  not,  that  is  to  say,  if  there 
are  many  or  few.  Neither  reflexes,  nor  odour,  nor 
polarised  tracks  can  explain  the  thing."  l 

The  stolen  pupae  are  treated  by  the  red  ants  with 
great  care,   and  when  grown  up  spend  their  lives  in 

1  Forel,  p.  239. 


70  INSTINCT  IN   INSECTS 

excavating  passages,  collecting  food,  carrying  larvae, 
etc.,  for  their  masters  as  if  this  had  been  their  original 
destination,  in  fact  they  fulfil  the  offices  of  slaves. 

Weismann  states  that  the  red  ants  cease  to  build 
their  own  dwellings  and  in  great  measure  to  care  for 
the  young,  or  even  search  for  their  own  food,  all  work 
of  this  description  being  performed  by  their  slaves. 
In  the  course  of  time,  he  argues,  the  instinct  to  search 
for  food  became  unnecessary,  was  neglected  by  the 
selective  power  of  nature,  and  gradually  passed  away. 
He  adds,  "  no  instinct,  no  organ  of  the  body  has  per- 
manency unless  absolutely  requisite  to  the  preservation 
of  the  species.  Panmixia,  or,  if  you  will,  the  remission 
of  natural  selection,  brings  it  about  that  the  superfluous 
is  reduced  to  the  absolutely  necessary — in  the  end  the 
organ  which  is  no  longer  indispensable  to  life  is  entirely 
removed,  and  a  complete  equilibrium  is  again  established 
between  the  structure  of  the  body  and  the  work  it  has 
to  perform.  In  this  aspect,  retrogression  is  a  part  of 
progression.1 

Many  insects  guide  themselves  essentially  by  vision, 
as  for  instance  the  dragon  fly ;  their  antennae  are  rudi- 
mentary and  the  sense  of  smell  imperfect.  By  night 
these  insects  are  motionless.  Ants  and  many  other 
genera  of  insects  depend  on  energy  received  through 
their  olfactory  sensory  organs  to  guide  them  from  one 
to  another  place.  It  is  by  the  sense  of  smell  that 
one  family  of  ants  recognise  another  and  the  male 
knows  a  female  ;  having  wandered  from  its  home  in 
search  of  food,  the  ant  retraces  his  footsteps  by  means 
of  his  olfactory  sensory  organs.  For  if  its  antennae 
are  removed  it  fails  to  find  its  path,  to  distinguish 
1  "  The  Open  Court,"  pp.  1855,  1857,  vol.  for  1889. 


INSTINCT   IN   INSECTS  71 

between  friend  and  foe,  or  to  appreciate  the  difference 
between  the  sexes. 

When  referring  to  the  structure  of  the  fungiform 
bodies  of  insects  we  stated  that  their  size  was  found 
to  increase  roughly  in  proportion  to  the  intelligence 
displayed  by  various  orders  of  insects,  for  instance 
these  bodies  are  proportionately  larger  in  the  working 
bees  and  wasps  than  in  the  male  insects.  The  males, 
however,  have  more  highly  developed  eyes  and  antennae 
than  the  working  bee ;  in  spite  of  their  being  the  most 
unoriginal  stupid  beings,  their  sensory  organs  and  the 
corresponding  cerebral  nervous  centres  are  fully  de- 
veloped. Their  brains,  however,  as  compared  with 
the  working  insect,  are  deficient  in  respect  to  the  size 
of  its  fungiform  bodies,  or  in  that  part  of  the  cerebral 
nervous  substance  in  which,  as  we  hold,  their  instinctive 
processes  are  perfected. 

With  regard  to  bees  there  can  be  no  question  that 
they  are  capable  of  receiving  impressions  from  their 
fellows  which  excite  in  them  emotions  they  are  able  to 
communicate  to  their  companions. 

If  a  queen  bee  is  removed  from  her  hive,  the  workers 
soon  discover  their  loss  and  raise  a  prolonged,  acute, 
and  plaintive  sound.  The  queen  having  been  secured 
in  a  wire  cage  was  placed  in  the  upper  tier  of  working 
bees ;  almost  immediately  their  buzz  was  changed 
from  a  doleful  to  a  joyful  sound,  which  was  taken  up 
and  repeated  by  bees  in  the  most  distant  part  of  the 
hive. 

A  remarkable  fact  demonstrating  the  exercise  of 
the  instinctive  power  of  bees  is  afforded  us  by  their 
action  in  swarming.  Before  the  queen  is  allowed  to 
leave  the  hive,  scouts  are  sent  out  to  seek  a  suitable 


72  INSTINCT   IN   INSECTS 

locality  for  the  swarm  to  settle  on.  After  having 
•chosen  a  spot  the  scouts  return  and  conduct  the  swarm 
to  the  place  they  have  selected,  showing  not  only  a 
memory  of  places  but  a  remarkable  display  of  instinctive 
action  in  their  movements. 

Among  invertebrates  instinctive  movements  have 
probably  reached  their  highest  point  of  perfection  in 
ants  and  bees,  and  we  find  a  corresponding  order  of 
structural  organisation  of  their  brains.  If  there  is  one 
organ  more  than  another  which  increases  in  complexity 
as  evolution  proceeds — which  is  the  most  essential 
organ  for  upward  progress  ?  surely  it  is  the  central 
nervous  system,  especially  that  portion  of  it  called  the 
brain.1 

Assuming  that  Professor  Bellonci  is  correct  in  his 
ideas  as  to  the  existence  of  an  area  of  nervous  matter 
in  the  mid-brain  of  insects,  which  corresponds  to  that 
of  the  basal  ganglia  of  vertebrates,  we  may  assign  to 
this  nervous  substance  the  function  of  directing  their 
instinctive  movements,  aided  by  energy  received  from 
the  nervous  matter  of  their  fore  brain.  Beyond  this 
we  cannot  overlook  the  fact  of  the  existence  of  the 
fungiform  bodies  which  constitute  so  prominent  a 
feature  of  the  fore  and  mid-brain  of  insects ;  and 
which  bear  a  direct  relation  to  their  movements. 

The  energy  which  directs  the  instinctive  movements 
of  insects  or  any  other  beings,  cannot  arise  ex  nihilo, 
it  must  be  derived  from  work  performed  by  some  kind 
of  hereditary  nervous  substance,  because  the  same 
kind  of  movements  are  effected,  or  it  may  be  restrained, 
by  the  same  species  of  insects  through  numberless 
generations  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  when  exposed 

1  Professor  Gaskel  on  "  The  Origin  of  Vertebrates,"  p.  65. 


INSTINCT    IN    INSECTS  73 

to  similar  conditions.  Instinctive,  therefore,  without 
doubt,  but  none  the  less,  in  its  natural  state,  brought 
into  action  through  work  performed  by  stimuli  received 
through  the  sensory  organs  and  their  corresponding 
cerebral  nervous  centres. 


CHAPTER  IV 

IN  previous  chapters  we  have  shown  that  the  simplest 
known  forms  of  living  matter  manifest  purposive 
action,  and  that  with  an  increasing  complexity  of  the 
structures  and  organs  of  the  bodies  of  progressively 
advancing  orders  of  animals,  their  purposive  actions 
have  become  developed  into  instinctive  movements. 
No  hard  and  fast  line,  therefore,  can  be  drawn 
between  purposive  and  instinctive  actions  ;  the  latter 
have  come  into  operation  in  response  to  the  action  of 
the  environment  on  elements  which  in  the  lower 
forms  of  beings  were  manifest  as  simply  purposive 
movements. 

We  pass  on  to  show  that  in  vertebrates  evidence 
exists  confirming  the  idea  of  the  evolution  of  purposive 
into  instinctive  matter,  and  also  that  from  this  latter 
substance  matter  is  evolved  having  psychical  or 
intellectual  functions.  We  conceive  that  these  three 
forms  of  matter  consist  of  like  elements  which  have 
been  structurally  modified  through  the  action  of  the 
environment,  and  under  the  laws  of  natural  selection 
have  become  perfected  or  brought  into  harmony  with 
the  forces  acting  upon  them.  To  illustrate  our 
meaning  we  might  compare  purposive  matter  to  the 
root  of  a  tree,  instinctive  matter  to  the  stern,  and 
psychical  matter  to  its  branches. 

A  family  of  animals  known  as  the  Protochordata 
has  been  held  to  constitute  the  link  between 

74 


THE    AMPHIOXUS  75 

invertebrate  and  vertebrate  animals.  This  family  is 
represented  by  a  small  creature  the  amphioxus  which 
is  to  be  found  on  our  coast  and  that  of  many  parts 
of  Europe.  The  animal  is  some  two  inches  in  length, 
is  fish-like  in  form,  and  swims  rapidly  through  the 
water  by  sinuous  movements  of  its  body.  The 
amphioxus,  however,  spends  most  of  its  time  buried 
in  the  sand,  the  anterior  end  of  its  body  projecting 
into  the  water.  An  opening  exists  on  this  extremity 
of  the  animal  which  is  closed  by  the  contraction  of 
muscular  fibres  encircling  it,  and  is  further  protected 
by  twelve  tentacles  provided  with  sensory  epithelial 
structures.1  The  amphioxus  feeds  upon  minute 
organisms  contained  in  the  surrounding  water  which 
passes  through  its  mouth  and  out  by  the  animal's  gill- 
slits  ;  in  its  passage  the  nutrient  matter  it  contains 
comes  in  contact  with  rows  of  cilia  lining  the  gullet 
and  by  their  action  is  directed  into  the  intestine. 

An  animal  leading  a  life  of  this  kind  requires 
nothing  higher  than  purposive  action  to  direct  its 
movements ;  and  we  find,  with  the  exception  of  tactile 
sensory  organs,  the  amphioxus  only  possesses  a  single 
median  eye-spot,  and  near  it  a  ciliated  slit  which  is 
supposed  to  be  olfactory  in  function. 

The  animal's  central  nervous  system  consists  of  an 
unsegmented  tubular  cord  of  nervous  matter,  which 
narrows  to  a  point  at  either  end,  and  terminates 
anteriorly  in  the  median  eye-spot,  it  gives  off  two 
pairs  of  sensory  nerves  to  the  snout.  From  the  rest 
of  the  nervous  cord  a  series  of  nerves  arise,  correspond- 

'  Comparative  Anatomy  of  Animals,"  by  Gilbert  C.  Bourne, 
vol.  ii.  pp.  172-202  ;  also  E.  Haeckel's  work  on  "  The  Evolution  of 
Man,"  vol.  i.  p.  416,  Plate  xL 


76  THE   NERVOUS    SYSTEM 

ing  in  number  and  position  to  the  myotomes  or 
sections  of  the  animal's  body.  The  central  canal 
of  the  nervous  system  is  lined  by  a  supporting 
epithelium,  outside  which  is  a  layer  of  glanglionic 
nerve-cells,  and  external  to  these  non-medullated 
nerve-fibres.  In  front  the  central  canal  forms  a 
vesicle ;  from  the  nervous  matter  forming  the  walls 
of  this  vesicle  protoplasmic  processes  pass  into  relation 
with  the  structures  forming  the  eye-spot  and  olfactory 
sensory  organs. 

Passing  on  to  the  simplest  of  the  true  vertebrata, 
the  cartilagenous  fishes,  which  include  such  animals 
as  the  lampreys  (Petromyzon  marinus),  we  find  a 
vertebral  column  forming  a  support  to  the  other  parts 
of  the  animal's  body,  this  cartilagenous  structure 
together  with  a  skull  are  an  efficient  protection  to 
the  central  nervous  system.  These  animals  possess 
no  trace  of  limbs,  and  may  be  regarded  as  represent- 
ing a  remnant  of  an  old  and  simple  class  of 
vertebrates,  which  are  far  below  the  structural  stage 
reached  by  genuine  fish.1 

It  is  well  in  this  place  to  give  a  general  outline  of 
the  structures  which  enter  into  the  formation  of  the 
brain  of  this,  the  simplest  class  of  vertebrate  animals, 
especially  in  relation  to  the  development  of  its  two 
corpora  striata,  and  optic  thalami,  for  it  is  largely  upon 
work  performed  by  the  nervous  substance  of  these 
parts  of  the  brain  that  the  hereditary  character  of 
animals  depends.  As  we  shall  proceed  to  show, 
neither  in  fishes  nor  amphibia  do  we  find  even 
rudimentary  cortical  or  psychical  nervous  areas  in 
connection  with  their  cerebral  hemispheres,  so  that 
1  "  The  Evolution  of  Man,"  by  E.  Haeckel,  vol.  ii.  p.  102. 


OF   THE    LOWER   VERTEBRATA  77 

the     traits     of    character     evinced     by     this     vastly 
numerous,  ancient,    and    important    class   of  animals 


Telencephalon.  Forebrain. 

Dlencephalon,  '      E  4   /      Interbrain. 


Mesencephalon.        \      ol      Midbrain. 


Metencephalon.          (  r/%        Cerebellum 


Myelencephalon.  B  /       Medulla  oblongata 

\ 


Medulla  Spinalis. 


FIG.  12.1 — A,  The  spinal  cord,  is  prolonged  upwards  into  B,  the  medulla  oblongata 
(myelencephalon).  In  this  region  the  spinal  cord  seems  to  widen  out  into  a  thin 
membranous  roof  covering  the  central  canal  (fourth  ventricle).  The  lateral  walls  of 
the  medulla  oblongata  contain  aggregations  of  ganglionic  nerve-cells,  which  form  the 
nuclei  or  place  of  origin  of  some  of  the  most  important  nerves  of  the  body.  C,  The 
metencephalon  forms  a  short  section'of  the  brain,  its  roof  is  known  as  the  cerebellum, 
the  arms  of  which  encircle  this  section  of  the  brain  (Pons  Varolii).  D,  the  Mid-brain 
(mesencephalon)  consists  of  ventral  and  lateral  walls  of  nervous  matter  enclosing  a 
narrow  canal  (Aqueduct  of  Sylvius).  Its  dorsal  wall  forms  the  two  optic  lobes. 
E.  the  Inter-brain  (diencephalon)  constitutes,  by  means  of  its  thickened  lateral  walls, 
the  optic  thalami;  the  dorsal  wall  is  also  thickened  at  one  point  by  fibres  which 
connect  the  two  knot- like  portions  of  nervous  substance  known  as  the  nuclei 
habenulae.'-J  F,  the  Fore-brain  (telencephalon)  consists  of  paired  lateral  lobes  from 
the  anterior  end  of  which  processes  pass  to  the  olfactory  lobes.  A  membranous  roof 
connects  and  covers  the  lateral  lobes  of  the  Fore-brain  ventricle,  which  divides 
anteriorly  into  a  Y-shaP<3d  cavity  and  ia  continued  into  the  olfactory  bulbs.  The 
common  cavity  with  that  of  the  inter-brain  (dtencephalon)  constitute  the  third 
ventricle  of  the  brain;  the  lateral  or  olfactory  portions  are  comparable  with  the 
lateral  ventricles  of  the  mammalian  brain. 

1  "The   Nervous   System   of   Vertebrates,"   by  Professor  J.    B. 
Johnston,  pp.  14,  25. 

2  Cat.  Roy.  Col.  Surgeons  Museum,  p.  87,  vol.  ii.  Phys.  Series. 


78  THE   BASAL   GANGLIA 

consist     of    work    performed    by    purposive    and    in- 
stinctive living  nervous  matter. 

In  the  fully  formed  vertebrates  the  brain  for 
anatomical  purposes  is  divided  into  five  sections,  as 
follows  (Fig.  12). 

The  latero-ventral  walls  of  the  fore-brain  are  thick 
and  include  in  their  substance  two  masses  of  nervous 
matter  known  as  the  corpora  striata  (forming  one  pair 
of  the  four  basal  ganglia)  ;  they  are  connected  in  the 
mid-line  by  nerve-fibres. 

The  optic  thalami  (which  form  the  second  pair 
of  the  basal  ganglia)  are  included  in  the  nervous 
substance  of  the  lateral  walls  of  the  inter-brain, 
consequently  in  the  lowest  class  of  vertebrates  we 
find  that  four  masses  of  nervous  substance  exist 
within  their  brain,  that  is  the  right  and  left  corpora 
striata,  and  the  right  and  left  optic  thalami ;  these 
four  nervous  centres  constitute  together  the  basal 
ganglia. 

If  we  examine  properly  prepared  sections  of  the 
nervous  substance  of  the  basal  ganglia  of  a  lamprey  we 
find  it  consists  of  an  intricate  mass  of  ganglionic  nerve- 
cells  and  fibres.  Among  these  cells,  especially  in  the 
corpora  striata,  large  pyramidal  cells  with  well-defined 
axions  may  be  seen  (Fig.  2) ;  these  fibres  pass  into 
the  medulla  and  spinal  cord,  and  convey  motor  energy 
from  the  living  substance  of  these  cells  to  the  muscles 
of  the  body.  Besides  these  motory  cells  a  multitude  of 
smaller  sensory  granular  cells  enter  into  the  formation  of 
the  basal  ganglia  especially  of  the  optic  thalami.  Nerves 
passing  from  the  olfactory,  visual,  and  tactile  organs  of 
the  animal's  head  and  body  terminate  in  connection 
with  the  living  matter  of  these  sensory  cells. 


AS   RECEIVING   STATIONS  79 

The  point  to  which  we  wish  to  draw  special 
attention  is,  that  in  the  lowest,  that  is,  the  simplest, 
existing  class  of  vertebrates,  four  masses  of  cephalic 
ganglionic  nervous  substance  constitute  the  foundation 
on  which  the  other  parts  of  the  animal's  nervous 
system  rests.  For  we  find  innumerable  fibres  or 
lines  of  communication  passing  to  and  from  the 
ganglionic  nerve-cells  of  the  basal  ganglia,  to  nerve- 
cells  located  in  the  olfactory  and  visual  lobes  of  the 
brain,  and  to  the  nuclei  of  the  nerves  originating  in 
the  medulla  oblongata  and  spinal  cord.  So  that  the 
basal  ganglia  form  the  central  receiving  station  for 
energy  passing  from  all  the  sensory  organs  of  the 
animal's  body.  As  we  shall  subsequently  show, 
energy  thus  passing  into  the  nervous  substance  of  the 
basal  ganglia  plays  on  matter  previously  impressed  by 
stimuli,  and  re-excites  such  impressions  which  becomes 
manifest  in  the  movements  we  speak  of  as  instinctive.1 

The  lampreys  are  eel-like  in  shape,  they  vary 
greatly  in  size  from  a  few  inches  to  three  feet  and 
upwards.  These  animals  have  a  circular  mouth 
armed  with  numerous  hard  tubercles  which  perform 
the  purpose  of  teeth  ;  the  tongue  acts  like  a  piston. 
The  animal  thus  attaches  itself  to  a  fish  and  sucks  its 
blood  ;  it  also  eats  soft  animal  matter.  The  upper 
and  lower  jaws,  and  a  double  nostril,  which  appear 
in  all  the  higher  vertebrates,  are  absent  in  the 
lamprey,  their  nasal  organs  consisting  of  a  single 
cavity  situated  in  the  dorsal  mid-line  slightly  in  front 
of  the  plane  of  the  eyes.  A  short  passage  leads  from 

1  Cat.  Phys.  Series,  Roy.  Col.  Surgeons  Museum,  vol.  ii.  p.  67 ; 
see  also  Proceed,  of  Zoolog.  Society,  Oct.  1909,  "  The  Anatomy  of 
the  Olfactory  Organs  of  Teleostean  Fishes,"  by  R.  H.  Burne. 


80  BRAIN   OP    CARTILAGENOUS   FISHES 

the  nostril  to  a  globular  olfactory  chamber,  the  posterior 
wall  of  which  lies  close  in  front  of  the  brain,  and  is 
lined  with  folds  of  the  olfactory  membrane.  The 
lower  part  of  the  sac  is  prolonged  into  a  blind  pouch 
which  shares  in  the  alternate  expansion  and  contraction 
of  the  branchial  cavity,  and  is  thus  a  mechanism  for 
the  production  of  currents  of  water  into,  and  out  of 
the  olfactory  chamber.  The  passage  of  the  incoming 
water  through  the  olfactory  chamber  is  ensured  by 
a  suitable  arrangement  of  valves  situated  at  the  lower 
end  of  the  first  segment  of  the  nasal  passage.1  (See 
Specimen  E  85,  Phys.  Series,  RC.S.  Museum.) 

The  auditory  organs  of  the  lamprey  consist  of  a 
single  chamber  and  two  semi-circular  canals.  The 
auditory  nerve  supplies  terminal  branches  distributed 
to  the  saccular  appendage  of  these  canals ;  this  nerve 
originates  in  an  aggregation  of  ganglionic  cells  located 
in  the  lateral  walls  of  the  medulla  oblongata.  Fibres 
passing  from  this  nucleus  enter  into  relation  with  those 
proceeding  from  the  nerve-cells  of  the  optic  thalami. 

The  next  higher  class  of  fishes  (Elasmobranchii) 
include  sharks,  dogfish,  etc.  The  brain  of  these 
animals  is  remarkable  on  account  of  the  great  develop- 
ment of  its  olfactory  lobes  ;  the  optic  lobes  are  also 
conspicuous.  The  medulla  oblongata  or  hind-brain  of 
many  genera  of  these  animals  is  of  large  dimensions, 
containing  the  nuclei  or  ganglionic  cells  from  which 
important  nerves  originate  and  supply  of  various  organs 
of  the  body. 

The  structural  arrangement  of  the  nervous  matter 
of  the  brain  of  the  cartilagenous  fishes  is  complicated, 

1  This  description  is  taken  from  Mr  R.  H.  Burne's  Cat.,  rol.  iii. 
p.  73,  Phys.  Series,  Roy.  Col.  Surgeons  Museum. 


NO    NEOPALLRTM  81 

and  contains  well-developed  basal  ganglia,  its  walls 
however  consist  of  a  relatively  thin  outer  and  a  thick 
cellular  layer  surrounding  the  ventricles  ;  there  is  not 
a  vestige  of  cortical  structures,  that  is  of  specialised 
living  matter  having  psychical  functions.1 

The  olfactory  organs  of  these  fishes  consist  of  a 
passage  which  is  open  externally  and  extends  back- 
wards into  an  olfactory  chamber.  The  walls  of  this 
chamber  are  lined  by  a  membrane  in  which  the  olfac- 
tory sensory  organs  are  located,  the  nerve  fibres  passing 
from  these  organs  terminate  in  relation  with  those 
of  the  ganglionic  cells  of  the  olfactory  lobes  of  the 
brain. 

A  shark's  eyes  consist  of  a  cartilagenous  outer  case 
into  which  the  muscles  directing  the  movements  of  the 
eyeball  are  inserted.  The  outer  transparent  layer  of 
the  eye  is  flat  and  thus  adapted  for  aquatic  locomotion  ; 
the  lens  has  a  sharp  anterior  curvature  to  compen- 
sate for  the  loss  of  a  refracting  cornea.  A  muscular 
diaphragm  or  iris  with  a  central,  often  contracted 
opening  (the  pupil),  is  located  between  the  lens  and 
cornea  in  the  space  known  as  the  anterior  chamber  of 
the  eye,  which  is  full  of  fluid.  Behind  the  lens  is 
another  space  (the  vitrious  chamber)  lined  posteriorly 
by  a  pigmented  vascular  layer  (choroid),  which  is  con- 
tinued forwards  into  the  iris.2  External  to  the 
choroid  the  retinal  or  nervous  sensory  elements  of  the 
eye  are  spread  out ;  these  elements  are  derived  from  an 

1  Cat.    of   Boy.    Col.    Surgeons    Museum,    Physiological    Section, 
vol.  ii.  p.  68. 

2  This  vascular  pigmented  layer  serves  to  absorb  surplus  light 
passing  to  it  through  the  transparent  media  of  the  eye,  and  it  also 
supplies  nourishment  to  all  the  structures  enclosed  within  the  outer 
or  sclerotic  tunic  of  the  eyeball. 

F 


82  THE  SENSE    ORGANS 

outgrowth  of  the  brain,  whereas  the  lens  and  other 
parts  of  the  eye  are  produced  from  an  invagination  of 
the  epidermis.  The  retina  consists  of  a  complicated 
arrangement  of  rods  and  cones. 

The  organ  of  hearing  in  the  Elasmobranchi  consist  of 
a  membranous  labyrinth  buried  in  the  cartilage  of 
the  animal's  skull,  as  a  rule  it  has  an  external  opening 
leading  to  a  cavity  formed  by  an  invagination  of  the 
epidermis.  This  organ  is  divided  into  two  chambers, 
one  of  which  is  more  directly  the  organ  of  hearing, 
the  other  with  alterations  in  the  position  of  the 
animal.1  Fishes  can  hear,  but  have  no  power  of 
discriminating  between  different  qualities  of  sound.2 

Taste. — The  lips,  tongue,  mouth  and  gullet  of  fishes 
are  covered  with  aggregations  of  sensory  cells,  which 
are  supplied  with  nerves  whose  component  fibres 
belong  to  a  special  visceral  sensory  system,  and  are 
probably  sensory  organs  of  taste. 

Touch.— Sensory  tactile  organs  are  distributed 
over  the  surface  of  the  body  of  fishes,  and  certain 
parts,  especially  the  head  in  the  gurnet,  is  provided 
with  stiff  barbels,  which  are  constantly  in  use  when 
the  animal  is  feeding  at  the  bottom  of  the  water, 
and  which  when  swimming  about  they  completely 
conceal  in  a  groove  beneath  the  head. 

The  brain  of  fishes  possessing  a  bony  skeleton  differs 
from  those  to  which  we  have  referred,  in  that  their 
structures  are  more  concentrated,  and  are  remarkable 
for  the  strong  development  of  their  optic  lobes.  The 
cerebrum  is  represented  by  a  pair  of  rounded  basal 

1  Cat.  Roy.  Col.  Surgeons  Museum,  vol.  iii.  Phys.  Series,  p.  144. 

2  Lee,  Journ.  of  PhysioL,  vol.  xv.  1894,  p.  311,  and  vol.  xvii.  1895, 
p.  192.     Am.  Journ.  Phys.,  vol.  i.  1898,  p.  128. 


OF   CARTILAGE  NOUS   FISHES  83 

ganglia,  roofed  over  by  an  epithelial  non-nervous 
structure. 

Sharks  and  rays  (Elasmobranchii),  constitute  the 
living  representatives  of  the  primitive  form  of 
fishes,  their  existence  in  Devonian  strata  being  a 
well-ascertained  fact  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  progenitors 
of  the  existing  sharks  lived  on  the  earth  before  any 
land  animals  had  come  into  existence.  The  remains 
of  these  fishes  increase  greatly  in  the  deposits  of  the 
Coal  and  Permian  periods.  The  air-breathing  or  land 
vertebrates,  unlike  their  water-breathing  progenitors, 
developed  lungs  and  consequently  a  modification  of 
the  circulation  of  the  blood  and  the  organs  connected 
with  this  system.  Other  modifications  in  structures 
and  organs  of  the  bodies  of  these  animals  afford  us 
examples  of  the  power  which  the  environment  exer- 
cises in  gradually  effecting  changes  of  this  kind.1 

The  mud-fishes  of  Southern  Australia,  Africa,  and 
South  America,  retain  the  earlier  mode  of  breathing 
through  gills  in  addition  to  the  newly  acquired  lung- 
respiration.  During  the  rains  they  swim  in  the 
water  like  fish  and  inhale  through  their  gills,  but  in 
the  dry  season  they  burrow  in  the  mud  as  it  dries  up, 
and  breathe  air  through  lungs  like  amphibians  and 
the  higher  vertebrates.  Their  skin  is  covered  with 
large  fish-like  scales,  their  skeletons  are  soft  and 
cartilagenous.  The  structure  of  the  brain  of  these 
animals  (see  D  120,  Mus.  E.  Col.  Surgeons,  Phys. 
Series,  Cat.,  p.  105)  resembles  that  of  primitive  fishes, 
its  highest  development  being  in  the  cerebral  hemi- 
spheres which  resemble  those  of  the  amphibia,  their 
walls  however  are  very  thin  and  contain  no  vestige 
1Haeckel,  pp.  115,  118. 


84  THE    BRAIN   OF  THE    AMPHIBIA 

of  the  layers  of  nerve  cells  characteristic  of  the  cerebral 
cortex  of  the  higher  classes  of  animals. 

From  experiments  made  by  J.  Steiner  we  learn,  if 
the  head  of  a  shark  is  amputated,  the  animal's  body 
for  some  time  continues  to  make  swimming  move- 
ments, in  the  same  way  as  the  body  of  a  salamander 
or  of  an  eel  would  do  under  similar  conditions. 
These  movements  are  due  to  reflex  actions,  that  is,  the 
surrounding  water  stimulates  the  tactile  sensory  organs 
of  the  surface  of  the  body,  nervous  energy  is  thus 
released  and  passes  to  the  animal's  spinal  cord,  where 
it  re-excites  previously  existing  impressions  which 
pass  to  motor  elements  and  become  manifest  in  the 
swimming  movements  of  the  body. 

The  next  higher  class  of  animals  (the  Amphibia) 
are  represented  by  the  Urodeles  and  the  bull  frog  ; 
their  cerebral  hemispheres  appear  to  be  of  compara- 
tively large  size,  but  their  walls  are  thin  and  show  no 
signs  of  a  cortical  layer  of  cells  such  as  that  which 
forms  the  neopallium  of  the  higher  classes  of  animals. 
The  hemispheres  are  oval  in  shape  and  project  back- 
wards to  some  extent  over  the  lateral  parts  of  the 
fore-brain  so  as  to  form  imperfect  occipital  lobes.  The 
brain  of  the  bull  frog  (Eana  catesbiana)  is  remarkable 
for  the  size  of  its  optic  lobes  which  form  prominent 
oval  bodies  separated  in  the  mid-line  by  a  deep  fissure. 

In  fishes,  and  more  distinctly  in  the  amphibia,  the 
free  ventral  layer  of  grey  nervous  matter  of  the 
corpora  striatas  contains  a  layer  of  pyramidal  cells 
known  as  the  Epistriatum. 

This  layer  of  cells  sends  out  protoplasmic  processes 
having  a  peculiar  knobbed  structure  ;  many  of  these  fibres 
come  into  relation  with  the  ganglionic  nerve-cells  of  the 


ITS    EPISTRIATUM  85 

t 

olfactory  centres,  others  pass  downwards  to  communicate 
with  bipolar  and  unipolar  ganglionic  cells  of  the  optic 
thalami,  which  are  connected  with  visual  and  gustatory 
impulses.  The  hemispheres  of  the  brain  in  this  class  of 
animals  may  be  shown  to  be  formed  by  a  folding-over 
of  the  lateral  walls  of  the  fore-brain,  and  the  layer  of 
pyramidal  cells  of  the  epistratum  pass  on  into  the  super- 
ficial layer  of  what  is  known  as  the  hippocampal  lobe. 
This  fact  demonstrates  the  intimate  connection  that  exists 
between  the  structures  forming  the  corpora  straita  and  the 
centres  for  olfactory  and  gustatory  impulses,  and  affords 
us  a  type  on  which  the  nervous  substance  of  the  neopallium 
in  mammals  is  built  up.1 

The  sensory  organs  of  the  amphibia  are  more 
highly  developed  than  in  cartilagenous  or  bony  fishes, 
for  instance,  in  the  case  of  the  bull  frog  (Rana 
catesbiana)  in  addition  to  a  membranous  labyrinth 
such  as  exists  in  fishes,  rudiments  of  structures  known 
in  mammals  as  the  cochlea  are  developed,  which 
play  an  essential  part  in  the  appreciation  by  the 
animal  of  differences  in  sound.  Between  the 
tympanum  of  the  frog's  ear  and  the  membrane  of  the 
cochlea,  a  small  bone  extends,  through  which  vibrations 
affecting  the  tympanum  are  transmitted  to  the  mem- 
brane of  the  cochlea.  From  experiments  made  by 

1  See  Johnston,  pp.  297,  303,  304,  308,  315  ;  also  Cat.  Roy.  Col. 
Surgeons,  p.  213,  and  Fig.  33,  p.  123  ;  also  "  Further  Advances  in 
Physiology,"  edited  by  Leonard  Hill,  article  by  J.  Shaw  Bolton, 
p.  315.  In  the  higher  orders  of  beings,  including  man,  the  cerebral 
hemispheres  are  composed  of  white  and  grey  nervous  matter,  the  white 
pervading  nearly  the  whole  of  the  middle  of  each  hemisphere,  where 
it  forms  the  medullary  centre,  and  extending  into  the  convolutions ; 
the  grey  forming  a  covering  of  some  thickness  over  the  whole  surface 
of  the  convolutions  (cortex),  and  occurring  also  at  the  base  of  the 
hemispheres  in  the  so-called  basal  ganglion  (corpus  striatum).  Quain's 
Anatomy,  vol.  iii.  pt.  i.  p.  163. 


86  THE    SENSE   ORGAN   IN    AMPHIBIA 

Professor  Yerkes  on  frogs,  it  appears  that  these 
animals  appreciate  differences  in  sounds  not  only  by 
their  movements,  but  also  by  alterations  in  the  rate  of 
their  breathing  when  exposed  to  alterations  of  range 
of  auditory  vibrations.1  That  these  movements  de- 
pended on  the  action  of  the  auditory  apparatus  was 
shown  by  dividing  the  auditory  nerves  of  these  animals, 
that  is,  the  connection  between  the  ear  and  the  auditory 
cerebral  centres ;  after  this  operation  is  performed 
movements  in  response  to  vibrations  of  sound  are 
abolished. 

Having  adopted  in  part  a  terrestrial  mode  of  life,  the 
olfactory  organs  of  the  amphibia  have  become  modified 
in  response  to  the  altered  nature  of  their  environment, 
and  afford  a  direct  passage  for  air  to  enter  the  lungs, 
and  also  contain  the  specialised  sensory  organs  of 
smell.  These  organs  are  adapted  to  receive  impres- 
sions made  on  them  by  odorous  elements,  and  to 
transmute  this  energy  into  a  form  capable  of  exciting 
the  sense  of  smell  in  corresponding  areas  of  the  brain. 

The  amphibia  depend  to  a  large  extent  upon  the 
organs  of  vision  for  their  supply  of  food,  and  to  warn 
them  of  approaching  danger.  These  animals  appear 
capable  of  discriminating  between  red  and  white 
colours  ;  this  is  demonstrated  by  forcing  a  frog  to 
follow  a  certain  track  in  a  simple  labyrinth  in  order 
that  he  may  obtain  a  supply  of  food.2  At  the  point 
where  a  choice  between  the  right  arid  wrong  paths 
occurred,  "  a  red  card  was  placed  on  one  side  and  a 
white  card  on  the  other.  When  the  frog  had  learned 
to  take  the  correct  path  towards  the  white,  the  cards 
were  exchanged,  without  any  other  alteration  in  the 

1  Jour.  Comp.  Neur.  and  Psych.,  vol  xv.  p.  279.  2  Idem. 


THEIR   INSTINCTIVE    FACULTIES  87 

conditions,  and  the  decided  confusion  of  the  animals 
indicated  that  they  had  discriminated  between  the  red 
and  white  cards,  and  had  learnt  to  react  with  refer- 
ence to  this  discrimination."  *  The  small  green  tree 
frog  after  a  hundred  trials  learnt  without  a  fault  to 
follow  the  right  path  by  which  to  obtain  its  food  in  a 
simple  labyrinth. 

Professor  Elourens  found  that  after  he  had  re- 
moved the  cerebral  hemispheres  of  a  frog  the  animal 
continued  to  swim  when  thrown  into  the  water. 
Movements  of  this  kind,  as  in  the  decerebrated  shark, 
are  due  to  stimuli  received  by  the  tactile  sensory 
organs  of  the  animal's  body,  which  pass  to  the  nerve 
cells  of  the  spinal  cord  and  through  their  motor  fibres 
to  the  muscles  concerned  in  the  act  of  swimming. 
The  neuro-muscular  system  of  these  animals  has 
acquired  the  power  of  executing  these  movements 
in  virtue  of  the  hereditary  structural  arrangement  of 
its  elements,  which  had  been  exercised,  and  thus 
improved,  during  the  previous  lifetime  of  the  animal. 
But,  as  Professor  Goltz  and  Schrader  have  shown,  if 
together  with  the  cerebral  hemispheres  the  basal 
ganglia  are  destroyed  the  animal  loses  all  power  of 
spontaneous  or  instinctive  action ;  a  frog  thus  muti- 
lated will,  if  left  to  itself,  remain  motionless  until  in 
the  course  of  time  it  dies.  But  if  the  toes  of  the 
brainless  frog  are  pinched  the  animal  withdraws  the 
limb,  reflex  action  remains,  but  all  instinctive  move- 

1  "  The  Animal  Mind,"  by  M.  F.  Washburn,  p.  142. 

Professor  Schrader  concludes  from  the  result  of  his  experiments  on 
frogs  that  their  central  nervous  system  can  be  divided  into  a  series 
of  sections,  each  of  which  is  capable  of  performing  an  independent 
function. 


88  FUNCTION  PERFORMED  BY  THE 

ments  are  abolished  with  the  removal  of  the  cerebrum, 
including  the  basal  ganglia. 

If,  however,  the  cerebrum  of  a  frog  is  removed 
exclusive  of  the  optic  thalami,  instinctive  actions  are 
retained ;  if  an  obstacle  is  placed  in  the  path  of  the 
animal,  and  it  is  then  excited  by  a  prick  on  its  foot, 
it  moves  away  and  either  bounds  over  or  avoids  the 
obstacle.  The  mere  act  of  leaping  away  may  possibly, 
in  case  of  necessity,  be  regarded  as  a  complicated 
reflex  action  ;  but  the  fact  that  the  frog  avoids  the 
obstacle  shows  that  its  instinctive  elements  are  still 
at  work,  and  are  located  in  the  nervous  substance  of 
the  optic  thalami. 

It  is  evident  that  the  basal  ganglia  are  more  com- 
pletely developed  in  the  bony  than  in  cartilagerious 
fishes ;  and  with  this  more  perfect  development  of 
the  nervous  structures  of  this  part  of  the  brain  we 
find  its  functions  are  of  a  corresponding  higher 
order.  For  instance — in  the  case  of  the  sticklebacks 
(Gasterosteus  trachurus)  during  the  nesting  and 
spawning  season  the  male  fish  becomes  a  metallic 
green  colour,  the  lower  part  of  his  throat  a  bright 
crimson,  and  the  back  is  ash-green.  He  proceeds  to 
construct  his  nest  on  the  soil  at  the  bottom  of  the 
water  he  inhabits.  The  fish  collects  a  quantity  of 
grass-stalks  and  other  fibres,  which  he  cements  with 
mucus  that  exudes  from  the  surface  of  his  body  ;  in 
order  to  accomplish  this,  he  passes  backwards  and 
forwards  over  the  materials  he  has  collected.  In 
this  way  a  dome-like  hollow  structure  is  reared,  at 
the  side  of  which  a  small  hole  is  left,  its  edges  being 
strengthened  and  rounded  off  with  great  care.  The 
fish  then  seeks  a  mate,  and  conducts  her  to  the  nest 


BASAL   GANGLIA   IN    AMPHIBIA  O\) 

he  has  made  ;  she  enters  at  the  hole,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  has  laid  some  eggs,  after  which  she  bores  a 
hole  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  nest  to  that  by  which 
she  had  entered  and  makes  her  escape.  The  nest 
having  two  openings,  a  stream  of  water  can  pass 
through  it  and  the  eggs  are  thus  kept  at  a  normal 
temperature.  This  process  is  repeated  day  by  day 
until  the  nest  contains  a  considerable  number  of  eggs. 
The  male  then  takes  up  his  position  to  defend  the 
nest  from  invaders,  a  period  lasting  for  a  month. 
During  this  time  he  has  frequently  to  fight  many 
battles  with  often  larger  fish  than  himself ;  in  making 
these  attacks  the  little  creature  seizes  their  fins  and 
strikes  furiously  at  their  head  and  eyes.  As  the 
young  fish  appear  and  grow  they  are  apt  to  stray  ; 
the  male  brings  them  back  to  his  allotted  precincts 
until  such  time  as  they  are  able  to  protect  themselves, 
when  he  ceases  his  guardianship  and  returns  to  freedom 
of  action.1 

The  action  taken  by  salmon  in  the  preparation  of 
spawning-beds  and  the  care  of  their  young  is  remark- 
able ;  after  passing  from  the  sea  a  pair  of  fish  select 
a  gravelly  shallow.  The  female  deposits  her  eggs  in 
shallow  furrows  in  the  gravel,  to  which  they  adhere 
by  a  thin  coating  of  glutinous  matter,  the  male  at  the 
same  time  shedding  his  milt  over  them.  The  trenches 
in  the  sand,  according  to  Mr  J.  Shaw,  are  made  by 
the  female  throwing  herself  at  intervals  of  a  few 
minutes  upon  her  side,  and  while  in  that  position,  by 
a  rapid  action  of  her  tail,  she  digs  a  receptacle  for  her 
eggs,  a  portion  of  which  she  deposits  and  turning  on 

1 "  The   Angler   Naturalist,"    by   H.    Cholmondeley-Pennell,   pp. 
81,  84. 


90      THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

her  side,  covers  them  over  with  sand.  The  male 
seems  to  take  no  part  in  this  work,  but  after  it  is 
completed  he  takes  up  his  place  as  sentry  over  the 
eggs,  for  which  he  has  at  times  to  fight  fiercely,  for 
other  male  fish  are  anxious  to  appropriate  his  charges. 
He  is  thus  kept  incessantly  on  the  alert  until  the 
eggs  are  hatched  and  the  fry  able  to  take  care  of 
themselves. 

Mr  Pennell  states  that  in  company  with  Mr  Bartlett, 
Superintendent  of  the  Zoological  Gardens,  Eegent's 
Park,  he  visited  the  house  in  which  perch  are  kept, 
the  keeper  of  these  fish  was  also  present.  So  long  as 
the  keeper  walked  about  in  front  of  the  aquarium 
occupied  by  the  perch  they  took  no  notice  of  him ; 
but  on  Mr  Bartlett  directing  this  man  to  walk  away 
from  the  tank  towards  the  cupboard  where  the  net 
was  kept  by  which  food  was  introduced  into  the  tank  ; 
the  instant  the  keeper  made  this  movement  the  fish 
became  intensely  excited,  and  rushed  to  and  fro  across 
their  enclosure  erecting  their  fins  and  exhibiting  un- 
mistakable emotional  movements. 

Further  evidence  of  this  kind  might  be  adduced  in 
order  to  demonstrate  the  kind  of  instinctive  and 
emotional  movements  effected  by  animals  through 
means  of  the  nervous  substance  localised  in  a  definite 
part  of  their  brain  ;  if  this  substance  is  removed 
during  the  animal's  lifetime  all  such  movements 
cease. 

The  emotional  characters  of  these  classes  of  animals 
vary  as  much  as  their  instinctive  qualities,  some  of 
them  are  pugnacious,  bold,  cunning  brutes,  others 
timid,  harmless  creatures.  But  they  all  have  one 
character  in  common,  which  is,  that  their  instinctive 


INTO   INSTINCTIVE    MATTER  91 

and  emotional  qualities  are  passed  on  from  one  to 
succeeding  generations  of  beings. 

Starting  from  the  rudimentary  mid -brain  of  the 
crayfish  (p.  42)  and  other  invertebrate  animals,  we 
trace  a  gradual  evolution  and  concentration  of  the 
nervous  matter  forming  the  brain  and  spinal  cord 
which,  in  the  lowest  class  of  vertebrates,  has  become 
developed  into  a  system  such  as  we  have  indicated. 
A  system  by  which  the  various  receiving  and  trans- 
mitting stations  of  in-coming  and  out-going  streams 
of  energy  are  brought  into  co-ordination,  through 
means  of  the  living  matter  contained  in  the  ganglioriic 
nerve  cells  of  a  definite  area  of  the  brain.  The  result 
of  this  action  in  the  classes  of  animals  we  have 
referred  to  becomes  manifest  in  instinctive  and 
emotional  movements  such  as  those  we  have  described ; 
for  we  repeat,  if  this  matter  is  destroyed  although 
other  parts  of  the  brain  may  be  spared,  and  the 
animal  continues  to  live,  all  its  instinctive  and 
emotional  activities  are  abolished. 

It  is  on  these  grounds  we  base  our  opinion 
regarding  the  instinctive  action  of  living  elements 
contained  in  the  basal  ganglia  of  the  lowest  classes 
of  vertebrates  ;  and  in  the  nervous  substance  of  the 
mid-brain  in  the  higher  orders  of  invertebrate 
animals.  A  system  of  this  kind  depends  in  the  first 
place  on  the  nature  of  the  hereditary  arrangement  of 
the  elements  of  which  it  is  formed  ;  secondly,  on  the 
efficient  supply  of  materials,  and  the  performance  of 
the  fundamental  processes  appertaining  to  this  matter  ; 
thirdly,  on  the  kind  of  exercise  the  system  has  re- 
ceived from  the  dawn  of  its  existence  onwards.  It  is 
by  means  of  proper  training  that  the  various  parts  of 


92      THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

the  system  come  to  work  together  in  harmony  for  the 
benefit  of  the  individual  and  species  as  a  whole. 

We  defined  living  protoplasm  to  be  a  form  of  matter 
which  acts  as  a  specific  transformer  of  non-vital  into 
vital  modes  of  energy  ;  in  like  manner  certain 
constituents  of  the  nervous  substance  located  in  the 
basal  gaoglia  consist  of  a  specialised  arrangement  of 
elements  which  act  as  a  transformer  of  energy  derived 
from  the  sensory  organs  into  instinctive  movements. 


CHAPTEE  V 

PASSING  from  amphibians  we  come  to  the  next 
higher  class  of  animals,  the  reptiles  ;  before  pro- 
ceeding to  consider  those  parts  of  their  brain  with 
which  we  are  more  directly  concerned,  it  is  well  to 
state  that  there  are  other  lobes  of  the  brain  than  those 
to  which  we  have  referred,  considering  it  well  not  to 
overburden  a  complicated  subject  with  details  which 
do  not  directly  bear  on  the  line  of  investigation  we 
are  following.  But  it  is  necessary  to  state  that,  in  the 
classes  of  animals  we  have  described,  the  nerves 
proceeding  from  their  olfactory  and  gustatory  sensory 
organs  pass  to  ganglionic  cells  located  in  what  are 
known  as  the  Pyriform  and  Hippocampal  lobes.  The 
exposed  surfaces  of  these  lobes  on  the  median  and 
inferior  parts  of  the  brain  consist  of  nervous 
matter  which  is  described  as  the  cortex,  mantle 
pallium  or  covering  of  these  lobes.  The  cortex  of  the 
Hippocampal  lobe  contains  a  layer  of  cells  derived  from 
those  of  the  basal  ganglia,  but  does  not  contain  layers 
of  ganglionic  cells  such  as  those  which  characterise  the 
pallium  of  the  hemispheres  of  the  brain  in  the  higher 
orders  of  animals.  It  is  only  when  we  reach  the  class 
of  reptiles  that  we  find  indications  of  the  develop- 
ment of  a  layer  of  ganglionic  nerve-cells  in  the  cortex 
or  pallium  of  the  cerebral  hemispheres,  derived,  we 
believe,  from  the  instinctive  matter  of  the  basal 
ganglia  (p.  84).  To  distinguish  this  new  development 


THE   NEOPALLTUM 


of  nervous  matter  from  the  pre-existing  Pyriform  and 
Hippocampal  pallium,  Dr  G.  Elliot  Smith  has  given 
it  the  name  of  the  Neopallium.1  This  layer  of  cells 
is  of  importance  to  us,  in  that  we  hold  the  functions 
performed  by  its  living  substance  to  be  psychical  in 


Superficial     layer    of  '  nerve 
fibres, "  molecular"  layer. 


Small,    medium,    and    large 
pyramidal  cells. 


Granular  or  stellate  cell  layer. 

Inner  layer    of   nerve  fibres 
with  large  solitary  cells. 


Inner  .layer    of   polymorphic 
cells. 


I.  Molecular  layer  of  cells. 


II.  Supra-granular  layer, 
Pyramidal  cells. 


III.  Granular  layer. 


IV. 


Infra-granular  layer. 


Diagram  showing  approximately  the  relative  depth  of  the  cerebral  cortex  or 
neopallium  of  an  adult  human  brain.  (After  J.  S.  Bolton.) 

character,  arising,  as  we   have   said,  out   of   the   in- 
stinctive matter  of  the  basal  ganglia. 

In  reference  to  this  subject  Dr  J.  S.  Bolton  states, 
that  in  the  higher  classes  of  animals  that  part  of  the 
cerebral  cortex  known  as  the  neopallium  is  derived 
from  the  polymorphic  or  inner  granular  layer  of  the 
cortex.  He  "  suggests  that  in  the  earliest  attempt 
at  evolution  of  structures  which  come  to  be  of  any 

1  Prof.  Elliot  Smith  has  demonstrated  that  the  neopallium — the 
"  organ  of  mind  " — is  evolved  from  the  hippocampal  system. — The 
Lancet,  The  Arris  and  Gale  Lectures,  delivered  at  the  Royal  Col. 
Sgns.,  Jan.  1,  15,  and  22,  1910. 


DEVELOPMENT   OP   THE    NEOPALLIUM  95 

considerable  functional  value,1  the  neopallium  follows 
the  plan  of  the  cortical  architecture  long  previously  in 
the  phylogenetic  scale  laid  down  in  the  Hippocampus, 
which  plan  in  the  latter  situation  has  -become  fixed, 
and,  as  a  plan,  permanent.  The  earliest  and  lowest 
grade  of  neopallial  representation  is  thus,  as  regards 
structure,  a  repetition  of  the  hippocampal  type,  granular 
and  infra-granular  cortex.  By  the  accrescence  of  a  supra- 
granular  layer  of  varying  depth  and  complexity  of  its 
component  nerve-cells,  different  grades  of  representa- 
tion may  be  reached,  and  are  reached  to  some  extent 
in  the  same  animal,  even  if  this  occupies  a  lowly  place 
in  the  mammalian  phylum,  and  to  a  greater  extent 
the  higher  is  the  position  in  the  scale  to  which  the 
animal  belongs  "  2  (p.  84). 

Although  in  reptiles,  such  as  the  ringed  snake 
(Tropidonotus  natrix),  the  layer  of  cells  in  the 
cerebral  cortex  is  very  limited  in  extent,  and  it  is 
doubtful  if  cortical  tracts  pass  from  its  cells  into  other 
parts  of  the  cerebrum,  nevertheless  it  is  particularly 
noteworthy  as  indicating  the  commencement  of  another 
order  of  faculties  than  those  we  included  under  the 
term  instinctive. 

In  addition  to  the  development  of  a  rudimentary 
cortex  the  reptilian  brain  is  larger  in  proportion  to  the 

1  "  Further  Advances   in  Physiology,"  edited   by  Leonard   Hill, 
p.  315,  article  by  J.  S.  Bolton  on  "  Recent  Researches  on  Cortical 
Localisation  and  on  the  Functions  of  the  Cerebrum." 

2  For  further  details  on  this  subject  refer  to  Dr  Elliot  Smith's  paper 
in  the  Journ.  Anal,  and  Phys.,  vol.  xxxv.  p.  431,  and  to  Professor 
J.  B.  Johnston's  work  on  "  The  Nervous  System  of  Vertebrates," 
pp.  297,  303,  311,  315,  Fig.  154,   Diagram,  Fig.   151,  p.  308.      See 
also  Figs.  53,  54,  p.  173,  Cat.  Roy.  Col.  Surgeons  Museum,  vol.  ii. 
Phys.   Series.     F.  W.  Mott  and  W.  D.  Halliburton  on  "Lemur's 
Brain,"  Proceed.  Roy.  Soc.  B.,  Vol.  Ixxx.,  1908. 


96  SENSORY   ORGANS   OP   REPTILES 

rest  of  the  nervous  system,  and  more  highly  differ- 
entiated than  that  of  amphibians  or  fishes.  With  this 
increase  in  the  size  and  structure  of  the  reptilian 
brain  we  find  a  corresponding  development  of  their 
sensory  organs. 

The  eyes  of  reptiles  resemble  those  of  the 
amphibia  in  structure,  but  in  addition  possess  a 
mechanism  by  means  of  which  they  have  the  power 
of  adjusting  the  focus  of  their  refractive  media  to 
near  and  distant  objects.  This  more  perfect  power 
of  accommodation  is  a  distinct  advance  beyond  the 
visual  apparatus  of  any  of  the  lower  classes  of  animals. 
The  auditory  organs  also  of  reptiles  are  more  highly 
developed  than  they  are  in  the  amphibia  and 
approximate  to  that  of  birds. 

Professor  Yerkes  has  made  experiments  on  turtles 
and  other  reptiles  in  order  to  ascertain  how  far  they 
were  capable  of  learning  by  experience.  His  plan  is 
to  place  these  animals  when  starving  in  a  labyrinth 
which  ended  in  a  tank  containing  food.  The  test 
was  to  see  how  many  times  it  took  the  animal  to  find 
the  nearest  path  to  its  food,  or  in  other  words  to 
successfully  overcome  the  obstacles  placed  in  its  way 
before  it  could  reach  its  food.  In  the  early  stages  of 
their  education  it  was  found  turtles  took  thirty-five 
minutes  to  complete  their  passage  through  the 
labyrinth  to  the  tank  ;  but  in  the  course  of  time  these 
same  animals  became  so  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
the  obstacles  placed  in  their  path,  and  so  apt  at 
avoiding  them,  that  they  passed  through  the  labyrinth 
in  some  three  or  four  minutes. 

Not  only  did  turtles  come  to  learn  and  to  remember 
their  way  through  the  labyrinth,  but  on  reaching  the 


THE   MEMORY    OF   PLANTS  97 

edge  of  the  tank,  in  place  of  moving  down  to  the 
water  on  an  inclined  plane  made  for  this  purpose, 
the  animals  discovered  a  more  expeditious  mode  of 
reaching  their  food  was  to  throw  themselves  over 
the  side  of  the  tank  into  the  water.1 

From  experiments  of  this  kind  we  obtain  evidence  as 
to  the  existence  in  reptiles  of  a  faculty,  by  which  certain 
elements  of  their  living  substance  are  able  to  retain  and 
utilise  former  impressions  made  upon  them  by  various 
form  of  stimuli.  With  reference  to  this  power  of 
memory  as  before  stated  we  know  that  certain  flowers 
close  with  the  setting  sun  and  open  with  the  dawn 
of  day,  and  we  attribute  movements  of  this  kind  to  a 
response  of  the  living  matter  of  the  flower  to  energy 
received  from  the  sun.  But  if  flowers  of  this  kind 
are  removed  from  the  light  and  heat  of  the  sun,  and 
shut  up  in  a  dark  cool  place,  they  continue  for  some 
days  to  open  and  close  at  the  same  time  as  when 
exposed  to  sunlight.  We  account  for  these  latter 
movements  in  plants  by  assuming  that  one  of  the 
inherent  properties  of  living  protoplasm  is,  not  only 
to  respond  but  also  to  retain  impressions  made  upon 
it  by  frequently  repeated  and  appropriate  stimuli ; 
and  that  through  the  constant  operation  of  energy  of 
this  kind,  the  molecular  structure  of  its  germinal  matter 
becomes  modified  so  as  to  transmit  these  characters  to 
succeeding  generations.  Matter  possessing  properties 
such  as  those  to  which  we  have  referred  continues 
to  produce  movements  for  a  time  without  receiving 
a  further  supply  of  solar  energy,  and  thus  con- 
stitutes what  we  take  to  be  the  basis  substance  of 
memory  or  the  power  of  retaining  for  future  use 
1  "  The  Animal  Mind,"  Washburn,  p.  222. 

a 


98  MEMORY    OF    REPTILES 

impressions  received  by  the  action  of  various  modes  of 
energy. 

In  some  of  the  simplest  descriptions  of  unicellular 
beings  we  have  evidence  showing  that  they  act  on 
impressions  they  have  previously  acquired — for 
instance  the  amoeba,  referred  to  by  Professor  Jennings, 
appears  to  have  been  guided  in  its  endeavours  to 
capture  its  prey,  as  he  remarks,  by  former  experiences, 
or  in  other  words  by  its  memory.  The  amoeba  acted 
by  energy  derived  from  impressions  it  had  thus 
acquired  and  reversed  the  course  it  had  been  following 
in  order  to  effect  its  object. 

We  may  therefore  best  describe  the  basis  substance 
of  memory  as  living  matter  impressed  by  action  pre- 
viously derived  from  appropriate  modes  of  energy,  and 
which  may  be  rendered  active  by  the  same  form  of 
stimulus  to  that  which  originally  produced  the  im- 
pression, or  by  other  modes  of  energy.  The  movements 
thus  effected  in  unicellular  organisms  are,  as  a  rule, 
purposive,  being  directed  by  the  same  form  of  energy 
as  that  which  controls  movements  made  on  their  living 
substance  in  response  to  the  direct  action  of  stimuli. 

In  the  class  of  birds  which  follow  the  reptiles  in 
the  ascending  scale  of  animal  life,  we  find  that  the 
neopallium  or  outer  surface  of  their  cerebral  hemi- 
spheres consists  of  a  superficial  strata  of  granular 
matter  containing  two  layers  of  polymorphic  cells  ; 
from  the  inner  surface  of  these  cells  nerve-fibres  pass 
to  and  from  all  parts  of  the  animal  brain,  some  of 
them  extending  through  the  "medulla  oblongata  into 
the  spinal  cord  (Fig.  13). 

After  removing  the  outer  layer  of  the  cerebral  cortex 
or  neopallium  of  a  bird's  brain,  we  see  the  large  corpora 


CEREBRAL   CORTEX    OF    BIRDS  99 

striata  projecting  into  the  lateral  ventricles,  and  behind 
them  a  part  of  the  optic  thalami,  a  considerable  portion 
of  these  ganglia  are  extra-ventricular  and  lie  em- 
bedded in  the  cerebral  hemispheres.1  The  substance 
of  the  corpora  striata  consists  of  aggregations  of  gray 
nervous  matter  with  numerous  bundles  of  white  fibres, 


VA 

FIG.  13.— (A)  Bird's  brain.  PC,  position  of  excitable  areas;  Cff,  cerebral  hemi- 
spheres ;  cer,  cerebellum ;  o//,  olfactory  bulb ;  ol,  optic  lobe.  (B)  represents  the  path 
followed  by  energy  derived  from  E,  the  internal  ear  which  passes  to  an,  the  sensory 
auditory  nucleus,  and  from  thence  to  bg,  the  basal  ganglia ;  from  these  ganglia  part 
of  the  released  energy  passes  directly  to  mn,  the  motor  nucleus  of  the  muscles  con- 
trolling VA,  the  vocal  apparatus;  part  of  the  energy  from  bg  passes  to  p,  the 
psychical  cortical  area,  from  which  energy  extends  to  mn,  and  so  to  VA.  The  second 
nervous  arc  starts  from  an,  and  giving  off  energy  to  bg,  passes  direct  to  p,  and  from 
p  to  mn,  giving  off  energy  in  its  path  to  bg. 

which  latter  may  be  traced  to  and  from  all  parts  of 
brain,  including  the  ganglionic  nerve-cells  which  con- 
stitute the  essential  part  of  the  cerebral  cortex.  It  is 
evident  from  a  structural  point  of  view  that,  as  in  the 
lower  classes  of  animals  so  also  in  birds,  the  basal 
ganglia  constitute  the  central  receiving  and  transmitting 
station  for  impressions  received  from  the  whole  of  the 

1  The  intra-ventricular  part  of  the  corpora  striata  is  separated 
from  the  extra- ventricular  part  by  a  layer  of  white  substance  (internal 
capsule)  and  forms  what  is  known  as  the  nucleus  lenticularis  which 
can  only  be  seen  by  sections  made  down  to  it  through  the  hemi- 
spheres of  the  brain. 


100  CEREBRAL    CORTEX    OF    BIRDS 

sensory  organs  of  the  head  and  body  of  these  animals. 
In  addition  to  this,  fibres  pass  between  the  cerebral 
cortex  and  the  basal  ganglia. 

We  have  already  stated  our  reasons  for  considering 
it  probable  that  the  living  matter  of  some  of  the  cells 
of  the  cerebral  cortex  originate  in  differentiation  of  the 
substance  derived  from  the  basal  ganglia.  But  what- 
ever the  origin  of  the  cerebral  cortex  in  birds  may  have 
been,  we  find  it  extends  in  this  class  of  animal  so  as 
to  form  incipient  occipital  and  temporal  lobes  ;  and 
definite  areas  of  this  layer  of  nervous  substance  con- 
stitute sensori-motor  and  memorial  centres.  Thus  if 
certain  areas  of  the  surface  of  the  cerebral  hemispheres 
are  stimulated  by  means  of  a  weak  electric  current, 
definite  groups  of  muscles  of  the  animal's  limbs  and 
other  parts  of  its  body  contract,  followed  by  a  move- 
ment of  the  part.  If  other  areas  of  the  surface  of  the 
cerebral  hemispheres,  are  irritated,  no  such  movements 
are  induced.  We  have  reason  to  believe  it  is  in  these 
latter  areas  that  the  nervous  substance  has  become 
specialised,  and  constitutes  what  we  term  psychic  or 
consciousness  matter,  very  limited  in  quantity  and 
rudimentary  in  structure  in  a  bird's  brain,  but  becoming 
progressively  developed  in  the  next  higher  order  of 
animals,  the  mammalia,  and  reaching  its  highest  state 
of  development  in  civilised  human  beings  (Figs.  13 
and  14). 

In  the  pseudo-occipital  lobes  of  a  bird's  brain 
an  area  or  centre  of  nervous  substance  exists  in 
which  fibres  from  their  visual  system  terminate,  and 
from  which  fibres  originate  which  pass  into  relation 
with  living  matter  located  in  the  central  receiving 
station  or  basal  ganglia.  If  the  nervous  matter  form- 


SENSORY    ORGANS  -OF    BIHDS^    ','•*'»    ',' J, 


ing  the  right  and  left  visuo-sensory  cortical  centres  are 
destroyed,  the  animal  may  still  have  some  amount  of 
sight,  but  its  power  of  appreciating  the  nature  of 
objects  is  wellnigh  abolished.  The  same  result 
follows  if  the  fibres  forming  the  lines  of  communica- 
tion between  the  visual  centres  and  other  parts  of  the 
cerebrum  are  destroyed.  In  the  natural  condition  of 
the  visual  system,  if  the  animal's  retina  is  stimulated 
by  means  of  luminous  impressions,  a  part,  of  its 
potential  energy  is  released  and  conducted  by  nerve- 
fibres  to  the  optic  lobes,  and  so  to  the  visual  nervous 
centres.  The  result  being  a  more  or  less  accurate 
appreciation  of  the  nature  of  the  thing  which  has  given 
rise  to  the  impression  or  to  definite  adaptative  responsive 
movements. 

The  Sensory  Organs  of  Birds. — In  addition  to  the 
tactile  organs  contained  in  the  cutaneous  surface  of  the 
body,  in  some  birds  special  organs  of  this  kind  exist 
along  the  margin  of  their  beaks,  and  upon  the  surface 
of  their  mouths  and  tongues,  which  assist  the  animals 
in  their  search  for  food. 

The  Olfactory  system  of  birds  has  an  external  open- 
ing leading  into  a  space  which  is  divided  into  a  lower 
respiratory  passage  passing  to  the  lungs,  and  an  upper 
or  olfactory  chamber  over  the  surface  of  which  the 
sensory  organs  of  smell  are  scattered.  The  olfactory 
nerves  pass  from  the  brain  and  terminate  in  these 
sensory  organs.  In  some  birds  such  as  the  albatross 
the  olfactory  bulbs  are  of  a  remarkable  size,  but  as  a 
rule  this  system  in  birds  is  not  of  a  high  order. 

The  organs  of  Hearing  in  birds,  which  include  those 
of  equilibration,  are  formed  from  invaginations  of  the 
epidermal  layer,  which  becomes  differentiated  to  form 


1G2  I^STSTIVE    AND  EMOTIONAL 


the  various  parts  of  the  animal's  ears.  The  tympanum 
lies  below  the  level  of  the  skin  at  the  bottom  of  a 
short  canal.  The  tympanitic  cavities  probably  act 
as  resonators  ;  internal  to  this  cavity  is  the  cochlea, 
over  the  surface  of  which  the  sensory  organs  of  hear- 
ing are  distributed.  These  organs  receive  the  terminal 
fibrils  of  the  auditory  nerves  which  arise  from  aggrega- 
tions of  ganglionic  cells  located  in  the  walls  of  the 
medulla  oblongata.  From  these  nuclei  other  fibres 
may  be  traced  to  the  grey  matter  of  the  optic  thalarni 
and  the  corpora  striata  ;  it  is  still  an  open  question  if 
fibres  pass  from  what  is  probably  an  auditory  centre 
in  the  basal  ganglia  to  a  sensori-motor  auditory  centre 
in  the  cortex  of  the  temporal  lobe  of  a  bird's  cerebrum. 

The  Visual  apparatus  of  birds  reaches  a  high  order 
of  efficiency.  The  eyes  of  these  animals  are  large,  and 
in  consequence  of  the  wide  curve  of  their  posterior 
wall  a  considerable  expanse  of  retinal  surface  is 
obtained.  Provision  is  also  made  for  a  great  range  of 
distant  and  near  vision.  A  special  arrangement  of 
the  globe  of  the  eye  has  been  developed  so  as  to  enable 
nocturnal  birds  to  see  in  the  dark.  With  this  highly 
specialised  organ  of  vision  a  corresponding  increase 
in  the  size  of  the  optic  lobes  of  the  cerebrum  takes 
place,  and  they  become  marked  features  of  a  bird's 
brain. 

We  need  not  dwell  on  the  instinctive,  emotional,  and 
mimetic  characters  of  birds  —  their  skill  in  building 
their  nests,  care  of  their  young,  pride,  jealousy,  pugnac- 
ity, love  of  home,  migration,  are  familiar  to  us  all. 
Every  one  of  these  processes  are  abolished  if  the 
animal's  basal  ganglia  are  destroyed,  although  after 
being  thus  mutilated  the  bird  may  continue  to  live.  On 


CHARACTER    OP    BIRDS  103 

the  other  hand,  in  the  natural  state,  these  processes 
which  form  such  marked  features  of  a  bird's  character 
exist  with  highly  developed  basal  ganglia.1 

We  have  in  our  previous  volume  described  the 
results  produced  on  the  movements  of  birds  by  re- 
moving their  cerebral  hemispheres  duiing  life  ;  but 
as  these  results  are  important  in  their  bearing  on 
our  ideas  it  may  be  well  to  refer  to  them  in  this 
place. 

Professor  Schrader  states  that  after  he  had  excised 
the  cerebral  hemispheres  of  a  pigeon,  and  subsequently 
allowed  the  opening  he  had  made  in  the  skull  to  heal,2 
— if  the  bird  is  placed  a  few  feet  above  the  ground  in 
the  centre  of  a  room,  he  probably  remains  there  for 
some  time  as  if  asleep,  but  then  rouses  up  and  hops 
down  on  to  the  floor,  wandering  about  the  room  all 
day  and  sleeping  throughout  the  night.  If  a  chair  is 
placed  in  the  room  the  pigeon  will  fly  up  and  seat 
itself  on  one  of  the  arms  of  the  chair.  But  a  pigeon 
under  these  conditions  must  be  fed  by  placing  peas 
well  back  into  his  throat,  when  he  will  swallow  them  ; 
the  bird  would  otherwise  die  of  starvation,  having  lost 
all  desire  to  take  food  spontaneously. 

From  numerous  experiments  of  this  kind,  Professor 
Schrader  arrived  at  the  conclusion,  that  after  the 
complete  removal  of  a  bird's  cerebral  hemispheres  the 
animal  loses  his  intellectual  capacity  or  consciousness. 
A  female  bird,  after  excision  of  her  cerebral  hemi- 
spheres, makes  no  response  to  the  coo  of  the  male  bird 
or  to  the  rattling  of  peas  in  a  bag,  or  to  the  whistle 

1  Pfl tiger's  Archiv;    Professor   Max   Schrader,   "  Zur   Physiologic 
Vogelshirns,"  Bd.  xliv.  1889. 

2  Pfl tiger's  Archiv,  Bd.  xliv.  1889. 


104  INSTINCTIVE   CHARACTERS    DEPEND 

which  previous  to  the  removal  of  the  hemispheres, 
made  the  same  bird  hasten  to  her  feeding  place. 

For  instance,  a  falcon  some  time  after  the  cerebral 
hemispheres  had  been  removed  was  shut  up  in  a  cage 
with  a  mouse.  The  falcon  when  the  mouse  moved 
pounced  down  from  his  perch  and  caught  the  mouse 
in  its  claws,  but  made  no  attempt  to  devour  it.  The 
mouse  crawled  away  from  the  bird,  and  when  it  again 
moved  about  the  cage  the  falcon  again  seized  the 
animal.  This  process  was  often  repeated  until  one 
day  the  mouse  attacked  the  bird,  which  made  no 
effort  to  defend  himself,  and  appeared  indifferent  to 
what  happened.  The  movements  of  the  mouse  in 
the  falcon's  cage  excited  visual  impressions  which 
passed  to  the  bird's  optic  lobes,  and  produced  move- 
ments through  the  optic  thalami  leading  to  the  capture 
of  the  mouse.  But  the  falcon  having  seized  its  prey, 
had  no  idea  what  to  do  with  it. 

The  movements,  therefore,  of  a  falcon  mutilated 
in  this  way,  like  those  of  a  pigeon  under  similar  con- 
ditions, were  to  some  extent  instinctive.  The 
impulses  started  in  the  bird's  retina,  passed  to  the 
optic  lobes,  and  through  them  affected  the  nervous 
elements  of  the  optic  thalami.  The  excitation  of 
certain  nerve-cells  in  these  ganglia  caused  a 
discharge  of  nerve  energy  which  became  manifest 
in  movements  terminating  in  the  bird  seizing  the 
mouse.  If  the  hemispheres  of  the  animal's  brain 
had  not  been  removed,  the  excitation  of  the  nerve- 
cells  of  the  basal  ganglia  would,  in  part,  have  extended 
to  the  bird's  visual  cortical  centres,  and  thus  produced 
conscious  visual  sensations  by  means  of  the  connection 
of  these  centres  with  those  of  the  psychical  nervous 


ON    THE   WORKING    OF   BASAL   GANGLIA  105 

apparatus  located  in  other  parts  of  the  cerebral  cortex 
(Fig.  14). 

The  evidence  given  in  this  and  the  preceding 
chapters  seems  to  us  sufficient  to  substantiate  the 
following  statement. 

Purposive  action,  and  modifications  in  the  structural 
arrangement  of  the  elements  of  living  matter  in 
response  to  energy  derived  from  its  environment,  are 
fundamental  properties  of  every  description  of  this 
substance  (animal  or  vegetable).  If  the  action  of 
the  environment  which  first  produces  a  structural 
modification  of  the  elements  of  living  matter  be  con- 
tinued for  many  generations,  such  changes  become 
hereditary  characters.  Fixed  changes  in  the  struc- 
tural arrangement  of  the  elements  of  living  matter 
produce  modifications  in  its  functions. 

The  whole  of  the  living  substance  of  the  simplest 
forms  of  beings  exercises  purposive  action,  but  as  the 
elements  of  this  matter  undergo  differentiation  under 
the  influence  of  their  environment,  its  purposive 
elements  likewise  become  developed,  so  that  in  each 
succeeding  higher  class  of  beings  we  find  evidence 
of  the  differentiation  and  evolution  of  these  elements. 

In  the  lowest  classes  of  multicellular  animals 
purposive  matter  is  connected  with  the  living 
substance  of  nerve-cells  which  are  in  direct  relation 
with  the  various  sensory  organs.  We  have  given  an 
outline  of  the  development  of  this  system,  and 
established  the  fact  that  from  simple  purposive, 
instinctive  matter  has  been  developed,  and  in  birds 
has  attained  a  high  degree  of  perfection.  With 
this  order  of  perfection  we  find  a  corresponding 
increase  in  the  size  and  structural  arrangement  of 


106        THE  EVOLUTION  OF  PURPOSIVE  MATTER 

those  parts  of  the  central  nervous  system  in   which 
these  elements  of  living  matter  have  become  located. 

In  fine — the  evidence  we  have  given  establishes 
the  presumption  that,  in  the  various  classes  of  animals 
we  have  referred  to,  their  movements  are  directed  by 
purposive  and  instinctive  living  elements ;  and  that 
these  movements  are  all-sufficient  for  the  preservation 
and  reproduction  of  these  classes  of  beings,  and  are 
directed  by  specialised  elements  of  well-defined  areas 
of  their  brains. 


CHAPTER  VI 

WE  have  hitherto  been  engaged  in  establishing  the 
fact  that  the  instinctive,  emotional,  and  mimetic 
actions  displayed  by  invertebrates,  and  the  lower 
classes  of  vertebrates,  depended  on  work  directed  by 
nervous  elements  located  in  a  well-defined  part 
of  their  brain.  Movements  directed  by  purposive 
and  instinctive  elements  of  this  description  are 
sufficient  for  the  maintenance  and  reproduction  of 
these  classes  of  animals  ;  and  are  of  no  less  importance 
in  the  higher  or  mammalian  orders  of  beings,  in  that 
these  elements  form  the  basis  substance  out  of  which 
the  hereditary  characters  of  these  as  well  as  the 
lower  animals  are  elaborated.  But  in  each  ascending 
order  of  animals  the  struggle  for  existence  becomes 
more  intense,  and  their  members  must  meet  these  con- 
ditions either  by  following  some  eminently  safe  mode 
of  life,  or  else  producing  some  special  protective 
apparatus  by  means  of  which  they  may  avoid  extinc- 
tion. Evolution,  as  a  rule,  follows  the  latter  path, 
and  under  the  action  of  the  environment,  has  in  the 
case  of  mammals  developed  from  instinctive  elements  a 
higher  order  of  matter  endowed  with  psychical  functions. 
We  thus  find  a  gradual  increase  of  the  neopallium 
from  the  lower  to  the  higher  orders  of  the  mammalia, 
that  is,  of  intellectual  or  consciousness  matter, 
culminating  in  the  brain  of  man  and  thus  securing  to 
him  the  commanding  position  he  holds  in  the  world. 

107 


108  THE   EVOLUTION   OF   PURPOSIVE   MATTER 

As  we  have  already  shown,  the  rudiments  of  the 
cerebral  cortex  exist  in  reptiles,  in  birds  they  are  more 
highly  developed.  But  even  in  the  lowest  classes  of 
mammals  there  is  a  decided  increase  in  the  dimensions 
and  the  complexity  of  this  layer  of  nervous  substance, 
which  spreads  so  as  to  separate  the  visual,  auditory, 
a.nd  other  sensory  areas  of  the  cerebrum,  and  thus 
comes  to  modify  its  anatomical  character.  Among 
other  changes  effected  in  consequence  of  the  growth 
of  the  cerebral  hemispheres  is  the  development  of  a 
vast  multitude  of  inter-communicating  fibres  which 
bring  the  two  hemispheres  into  co-ordinate  action. 
The  growth  of  this  mass  of  fibres  displaces  some  of 
the  internal  structures  which  exist  in  the  lower 
vertebrates,  otherwise  the  conformation  of  the  mam- 
malian brain  does  not  essentially  differ  from  that  of 
the  lower  classes  of  vertebrates.  This  remark  is 
strictly  applicable  to  the  basal  ganglia,  for  these 
important  nervous  structures  are  present  in  the  mam- 
malian, as  in  every  other  description  of  vertebrate 
brain. 

Dr  Gustav  Mann  describes  the  thalamus  of  the 
mammalian  brain  as  consisting  of  two  oblong  masses 
of  nervous  matter  which  "  for  convenience  of  descrip- 
tion "  he  divides  into  eighteen  segments.1  It  is 
beyond  our  purpose  to  attempt  to  follow  Dr  Mann's 
account  of  the  structure  and  relation  of  the  various 
parts  of  the  thalamus  to  one  another,  but  his  work 
on  this  subject  indicates  the  complexity  which  the 
structural  arrangement  of  the  nerve-cells  and  fibres 
have  reached  in  this  part  of  the  mammalian  brain. 

1  British   Med.   Journ.,  vol.  i.   1905,  p.  289 ;    see  also  Professor 
Johnston  on  "  The  Nervous  System  of  Vertebrates,"  p.  265. 


THE    OPTIC    THALAMUS  109 

Dr  Mann  holds  that  the  functions  performed  by  the 
living  substance  of  the  thalafnus  are  mainly  sensory, 
and  the  corpora  striata  are  motory.  In  his  opinion, 
therefore,  the  basal  ganglia  form  two  great  sensori- 
motor  centres.  In  fishes  sensory  impulses  pass  from 
the  sensory  organs  to  the  corresponding  nuclei  of  the 
thalami,  and  being  correlated  with  motor  areas  of  the 
corpora  striata  become  manifest  in  instantaneous 
muscular  actioli ;  in  the  mammalia;  in  consequence  of 
a  large  share  of  the  sensori-motor  work  of  the  thalmo- 
striatum  centres  being  connected  with  the  cortical 
nervous  centres,  the  responses  to  visual,  auditory,  and 
other  impressions  are  slower  than  in  the  lower  classes 
of  animals,  but  they  gain  in  associative  precision  of 
action. 

The  progressive  development  of  the  central  nervous 
system,  from  the  simpler  to  the  more  complex  form  of 
mammalia,  has  been  so  recently  described  by  Professor 
Johnston  in  his  work  on  "  The  Nervous  System  of 
Vertebrates,"  that  it  is  unnecessary  for  us  to  enter  into 
its  details.1  We  propose,  therefore,  to  pass  on  at  once 
to  consider  the  central  nervous  system  of  one  of  the 
higher  orders  of  mammalia  in  so -far  as  it  bears  on  our 
subject. 

In  the  case  of  domesticated  dogs  and  other  car- 
nivora,  the  brain  attains  much  larger  dimensions  in 
proportion  to  the  size  of  the  animal's  body  than  is  the 
case  in  birds  and  the  lower  orders  of  mammals.2 
This  increase  in  the  size  of  the  brain  is  attributable 

1  The  collection  of  specimens  to  be  seen  in  the  Museum  of  the 
Royal  College  of    Surgeons    may  with  the  greatest  advantage    be 
studied  by  persons  interested  in  this  subject. 

2  Cat.  Roy.  Col.  Surgeons  Museum,  vol.  ii.  Phys.  Series,  pp.  237, 
263. 


110  THE    CEREBRAL   CORTEX 

almost  entirely  to  the  increase  in  the  growth  of  the 
animal's  cerebral  hemispheres.  In  birds  and  in  the 
simpler  orders  of  mammalia  the  surfaces  of  the  cerebral 
hemispheres  are  almost  smooth,  but  in  the  carnivora 
certain  fairly  constant  depressions  or  furrows  are 
found,  known  as  sulci  or  fissures,  which  are  produced 
by  an  infolding  of  the  cerebral  cortex,  thus  allowing 
a  large  amount  of  its  substance  to  be  packed  within 
the  narrow  compass  of  the  unyielding  walls  of  the 
skull. 

Not  only  is  the  cortex  of  the  cerebral  hemispheres  in 
the  carnivora  more  extensive  both  in  superficial  area 
and  depth,  in  proportion  to  the  rest  of  the  brain 
than  it  is  in  birds,  but  the  number  of  layers  of  cells 
forming  the  cortex  and  their  complexity  of  arrange- 
ment, is  distinctly  of  a  higher  order  in  the  dog  than  it 
is  in  a  parrot's  brain. 

The  cortex  of  a  dog's  cerebral  hemispheres  consists 
of  several  layers  of  cells  which  differ  in  form,  and 
which  with  certain  modifications  are  to  be  found  in 
all  parts  of  the  cortex  ;  the  large  cells  of  certain  of 
the  motor  areas  point  to  the  functions  performed  by 
the  living  matter  of  these  cells,  and  the  existence  of 
a  polymorphic  granular  layer  of  cells  is  a  sure  sign 
of  sensory  functions.1  We  know  that  bundles  of 
medullated  nerve  fibres  pass  in  vertical  streaks  through 
the  deeper  layer  of  cells  ;  some  of  these  fibres  jconvey 
impulses  derived  from  the  cortex  downwards  to  the 
basal  ganglia,  the  medulla  oblorigata  and  the  spinal 
cord,  other  fibres  pass  upwards  from  these  regions  to 
the  cortex.  In  addition  to  this  system  of  fibres 

1  Dr  F.  W.  Mott  and  Professor  W.  D.  Halliburton,  "  Proceedings 
of  the  Royal  Society,"  B,  vol.  80,  p.  140. 


AND    ASSOCIATION    FIBRES 


111 


numerous  strands  of  association  fibres  pass  between 
the  cortical  sensori-motor  centres  ;  and  lastly  all  the 
sensory  organs  of  the  head  and  body  are  brought  into 
communication  in  the  substance  of  the  basal  ganglia, 
and  terminate  in  the  sensori-motor  areas  of  the 
cerebral  cortex  (Fig.  14).  Not  only  can  we  demonstrate 
the  existence  of  this  intricate  system  of  nerve-fibres 


s.c. 


FIG.  14.— Diagram  to  illustrate  the  course  followed  by  some  of  the  nerve  fibres 
which  pass  upwards  from  the  spinal  cord  rnd  downwards  from  the  brain  into  the 
cord,  represented  by  the  black  lines,  other  lines  indicate  the  course  of  some  of  the 
principal  bundles  of  association  fibres.  The  dots  represent  the  cortex  (neopallium) 
of  the  cerebral  hemispheres. 

and  cells  by  aid  of  the  microscope,  but  also  from 
experimental  and  clinical  experience,  for  if  any  one 
or  more  of  the  cortical  nerve  centres  are  destroyed  by 
injury  or  disease  the  functions  performed  by  its  living 
matter  are  at  once  interfered  with  ;  and  the  nerve- 
fibres  originating  in  the  cells  of  the  part  destroyed 
degenerate,  in  this  state  they  may  be  traced  throughout 


112  FUNCTIONS   PERFORMED    BY 

their  course  to  other  parts  of  the  central  nervous 
system. 

We  may  now  proceed  to  study  the  nature  of  the 
functions  performed  by  the  different  parts  of  a  dog's 
cerebrum.  If  the  surface  of  the  animal's  cerebral 
hemispheres  is  exposed  daring  life,  and  a  weak  electric 
current  applied  to  definite  areas  of  its  surface,  certain 
sets  of  muscles  of  the  animal's  head  and  limbs 
are  brought  into  action  ;  extirpation  of  the  nervous 
matter  of  these  areas  produces  a  corresponding  paralysis 
of  these  sets  of  muscles.  Under  the  former  condition, 
energy  released  from  the  nervous  substance  stimulated, 
passes  by  motor  tracks  to  the  basal  ganglia,  medulla 
oblongata,  and  spinal  cord,  and  thus  brings  definite  sets 
of  muscles  into  play.  Excitation  of  the  same  motor 
central  areas  is  always  followed  by  similar  muscular 
action  in  the  same  animal  or  class  of  animals  to  which 
it  belongs. 

If  however  an  electric  current  is  applied  to  the 
greater  part  of  the  surface  of  a  dog's  cerebral  cortex, 
muscular  movements  are  not  excited  ;  and  from  the 
results  of  experiments  to  which  we  shall  allude,  .it 
appears  that  these  areas  of  the  cortex  correspond  to 
those  through  means  of  which  psychical  processes  are 
elaborated.  Ideas,  or  mental  images  of  external  objects 
which  are  formed  in  the  sensori-memorial  cerebral 
centres  of  vision,  hearing,  and  so  on,  are  in  the 
psychical  or  association  areas  of  the  cortex  brought 
into  connection  with  one  another,  the  result  being  a 
more  or  less  accurate  appreciation  of  the  nature  of  the 
thing  which  had  given  rise  to  the  impression  on  the 
nervous  matter  of  the  sensory  centres,  and  thus  to 
definite  responsive  movements. 


CEREBRAL    HEMISPHERES  113 

Professor  Goltz  removed  the  whole  of  the  cerebral 
cortex  and  subjacent  fibres  from  the  brain  of  a  living 
bitch,  and  kept  her  alive  after  being  thus  mutilated  for 
some  eighteen  months.  After  the  animal's  death  he  re- 
moved the  remainder  of  the  brain  from  the  skull  and 
found  it  to  consist  of  the  hind-brain  (medulla  oblongata) 
with  the  nuclei  of  the  nerves  originating  in  its  substance, 
also  of  the  cerebellum  and  mid-brain  with  the  optic 
thalami  and  a  part  of  the  corpora  striata,  especially 
that  of  the  right  hemisphere.  Professor  Goltz  however 
states  that  the  substance  forming  these  ganglia  (basal) 
was  in  a  condition  of  "  brown  softening,"  but  to  what 
extent  the  living  nervous  substance  forming  these 
ganglia  was  able  to  perform  its  functions  during  the 
animal's  lifetime  must  remain  an  open  question.  We 
may  however  be  certain  that  the  movements  made  by 
this  bitch  from  the  end  of  June  1889,  when  Goltz 
commenced  proceedings  for  the  removal  of  her  cerebral 
hemispheres, .  until  her  death  in  1891,  were  effected 
independently  of  the  cerebral  cortex.  This  fact  is  not 
only  demonstrated  from  the  detailed  account  which 
Professor  Goltz  gives  of  his  method  of  operating  and 
its  result  on  the  movements  and  character  of  the 
animal,  but  also  by  the  coloured  drawings  which 
accompany  his  paper.  These  drawings  show  that  the 
thalami  and  part  of  the  corpora  striata  remained  in 
situ  up  to  the  time  of  the  animal's  death,  the  left 
measuring  1'7  cm.  and  the  right  3  cm.,  although, 
Professor  Goltz  states,  they  had  undergone  pathologi- 
cal changes.1 

1  "  Der  Hund  ohne  Grosshirn  Siebent  Abhandlung  iiber  die  Ver- 
richtunge  des  Grosshirns,"  Pfliiger's  Archiv,  Bd.  li.  1892.     The  basal 
ganglia  on  the  left  side  measured  1'7  cm.,  and  on  the  right  side 
H 


114  FUNCTIONS    PERFORMED 

Professor  Goltz  describes  the  behaviour  and  char- 
acter of  the  movements  made  by  this  bitch  after  she 
had  been  mutilated  to  the  extent  above  mentioned. 
He  states  that  the  animal  as  a  rule  remained  curled 
up,  as  if  asleep,  in  the  corner  of  the  cage  in  which  she 
was  confined.  If  a  horn  was  blown  in  a  room  separ- 
ated from  the  one  in  which  she  was  sleeping,  she  would 
rouse  up,  stand  on  her  legs,  and  not  unfrequently  put 
her  paws  up  to  her  ears  as  if  something  unpleasant 
had  happened.  If  a  current  of  air  was  blown  through 
a  tube  on  to  the  animal's  skin  she  would  rise  up  and 
shake  herself  in  the  same  way  as  an  uninjured  dog 
would  do  under  like  conditions.  When  not  asleep  the 
dog  was  restless,  if  kept  without  food  she  performed 
continuous  movements  about  her  cage,  or  stood  up  on 
her  hind  legs  with  her  forepaws  on  the  front  bars. 
The  animal  growled  and  snapped  if  its  paws  were 
pinched. 

When  this  animal  was  removed  from  its  cage  to  be 
fed,  she  snapped  and  snarled  like  an  angry  brute,  and 
resisted  and  struggled  to  be  free  and  return  to  her 
cage  ;  on  these  occasions  she  showed  her  anger  by 
emotional  signs  such  as  lowering  her  head,  bristling 
her  hair,  retracting  her  ears  and  upper  lip,  and 
growling,  biting  and  snapping.  If  one  of  the  animal's 
feet  was  placed  in  cold  water  she  at  once  removed  it. 
In  a  dark  room  the  animal  closed  her  eyes  when  a 
strong  light  was  suddenly  allowed  to  enter  the 
chamber. 

To  make  the  bitch  eat  it  was  necessary  to  hold  the 
food  near  her  muzzle ;  it  was  then  taken  into  the 

3  cm.,  after  the  brain  had  been  removed  from  the  skull — the  cerebral 
cortex  had  been  completely  abolished. 


BY    INSTINCTIVE    MATTER  115 

mouth  and  masticated  and  swallowed.  If  pieces  of 
meat  were  soaked  in  a  solution  of  quinine  and  given 
to  the  animal,  it  refused  to  eat  the  meat.  The  dog 
was  unable  to  seek  for  its  food.  It  recognised  neither 
its  master  nor  other  dogs.  It  could  not  discriminate 
between  scolding  and  petting.  The  bitch  behaved 
almost  like  a  blind  animal  with  respect  to  obstacles 
placed  in  her  path,  rarely  turning  out  of  the  way. 

It  is  well  known  that  a  definite  area  of  the  occipi- 
tal lobes  of  a  dog's  brain  contains  a  specialised  form  of 
nervous  substance,  through  means  of  which  visual 
impressions  received  from  external  objects  become 
realised.  For  instance,  if  these  regions  of  the  brain 
are  removed  during  a  dog's  lifetime,  the  animal  is  no 
longer  afraid  of  a  burning  match,  or  of  the  whip. 
H.  Monk  is  of  opinion  that  the  image  of  memory  and  its 
power  of  recognition  are  lost  with  the  destruction  of 
the  areas  of  the  visual  cerebral  cortex  ;  but  the  animal 
is  by  no  means  blind. 

Again,  this  mutilated  animal,  we  are  informed,  when 
hungry,  was  in  the  habit  of  rising  on  her  hind  legs 
and  with  her  fore-limbs  pawing  the  bars  of  her  cage 
in  order  if  possible  to  obtain  her  freedom.  The  sense 
of  hunger  brought  into  play  pre-existing  impressions 
of  those  parts  of  her  cerebral  sensori-memorial  nervous 
apparatus  which  remained  in  working  order,  and 
became  manifest  in  her  efforts  to  gain  her  liberty. 
In  these  efforts,  and  her  repeated  snarling  and  snapping 
when  restrained,  we  recognise  the  exercise  of  memory, 
of  desires,  and  instinctive  processes  together  with 
emotional  actions,  which  in  conjunction  form  the  basis 
of  personal  character  in  the  higher  order  of  beings. 

What,  then,  it  may  be  asked,  had  this  animal  lost 


116         FUNCTIONS  OF  NERVOUS  MATTER 

by  the  destruction  of  her  cerebral  cortex  ?  She  could 
no  longer  recognise  her  former  master  nor  distinguish 
her  friends  from  strangers.  Her  memory  of  every- 
thing she  had  learnt  during  her  lifetime  was  obliter- 
ated together  with  her  intelligence. 

We  cannot  tell  what  would  have  been  the  behaviour 
of  this  bitch,  had  it  been  possible  to  have  destroyed 
her  cerebral  cortex  without  injuring  her  basal  ganglia 
or  other  parts  of  her  brain.  But  we  know  that  large 
classes  of  vertebrate  animals  do  not  possess  a  cere- 
bral cortex,  but  nevertheless  evince  distinct  traits  of 
hereditary  character,  which  in  some  cases  are  capable 
of  improvement  under  a  proper  system  of  training. 

Doubtless  the  intellectual  powers  of  a  dog  are  of 
a  far  lower  order  than  those  possessed  by  civilised 
human  beings,  but  this  difference,  as  pointed  out  by 
Darwin,  is  one  of  degrees  rather  than  of  kind — for 
instance,  his  well-known  anecdote  of  a  retriever 
illustrates  this  point.  He  states  that  two  wild 
ducks  having  been  shot,  fell  on  the  other  side  of  a 
stream  from  that  on  which  the  sportsman  was  stand- 
ing, his  retriever  tried  to  bring  over  both  birds  at 
once,  but  could  not  succeed  ;  she  then,  though  never 
before  known  to  ruffle  a  feather,  deliberately  killed 
one  bird,  brought  over  the  other,  and  returned  for 
the  dead  bird.  Again,  two  partridges  were  shot  at 
once,  one  being  killed,  the  other  wounded  ;  the  latter 
ran  away  and  was  caught  by  the  retriever,  who  on 
her  return  came  across  the  dead  bird.  She  stopped 
evidently  puzzled,  and  after  one  or  two  trials,  finding 
she  could  not  take  it  up  without  permitting  the  escape 
of  the  winged  bird  in  her  mouth,  she  deliberately 
killed  it,  and  then  brought  both  birds  away  together. 


OF   CEREBRAL    HEMISPHERES  117 

This  was  the  only  known  instance  of  her  ever  having 
wilfully  injured  any  game.1 

It  is  actions  such  as  these  which  indicate  the 
intellectual  powers  possessed  by  dogs.  Powers  it  is 
true  which,  as  compared  with  those  of  human  beings, 
are  rudimentary  in  their  nature,  emerging,  as  it  seems 
to  us,  out  of  an  evolution  of  that  form  of  matter 
which  has  produced  complex  instinctive  processes  in  the 
lower  orders  of  beings.  When  discussing  this  subject, 
Darwin  observes,  "  the  more  complex  instincts  seem  to 
have  originated  independently  of  intelligence  "  ;  and 
"  some  have  thought  that  the  intellectual  faculties  of 
the  higher  animals  have  gradually  developed  from 
instincts."  2 

We  may,  therefore,  with  advantage  endeavour  to 
ascertain  the  nature  of  the  work  performed  by  the 
nervous  substance  of  the  basal  ganglia  as  manifested 
by  a  dog  or  other  carnivora.  Professor  Pagano  has 
obtained  some  remarkable  results  by  injecting  fluids 
containing  curare  into  various  parts  of  the  basal 
ganglia  of  living  dogs.  "  From  his  experiments  he 
concludes  that  in  the  basal  ganglia  are  found,  at  birth, 
the  physiological  pre-organised  mechanism  of  emotional 
reactions.  The  cerebral  cortex  not  being  functional 
at  birth  is,  therefore,  not  indispensable  for  these 
emotions.  He  injects  O'l  c.  cm.  of  2  per  cent,  solution 
of  curare,  coloured  with  thionine,  into  various  parts  of 
the  caudate  (intra-ventricular)  nucleus  (of  the  corpora 
striata).  The  results  obtained  are  as  follows :  excita- 
tion of  the  anterior  third  and  of  the  middle  third 
of  the  caudate  nucleus,  especially  in  their  inner  half, 

1  "  The  Descent  of  Man,"  by  Charles  Darwin,  vol.  i.  p.  48,  1871. 

2  Idem,  p.  37. 


118  FUNCTIONS    PERFORMED    BY 

provokes  the  emotional  phenomena  of  fear.  They 
are  characterised  by  the  attitude  of  the  body,  the 
physiognomy,  the  cardiac  and  respiratory  phenomena 
(intestinal  and  vesical),  the  state  of  the  pupils,  and 
menacing  noises  which  exaggerate  considerably  these 
manifestations  of  terror.  Excitation  of  the  anterior 
extremity  of  the  caudate  nucleus  produces  phenomena 
of  psycho-motor  agitation  of  the  same  kind,  and 
expresses  a  mingling  of  the  two  emotions  of  fear  and 
anger." 1  Stimulation  of  the  anterior  third  of  this 
nucleus  produces  excitation  of  the  genital  organs, 
As  a  whole  these  experiments  confirm  the  opinion 
we  have  arrived  at  concerning  the  important  functions 
performed  by  the  nervous  substance  of  the  optic 
thalami. 

Professor  Halliburton  describes  the  basal  ganglia 
as  being  subsidiary  centres  of  movement  and  sensation. 
He  states  that  centres  of  this  kind  may  be  compared 
to  the  subordinate  officers  of  an  army,  the  principal 
centre  to  the  commander-in-chief.  The  highest 
officer  gives  a  general  order  for  the  movement  of 
a  body  of  troops  in  a  certain  direction  ;  we  may 
compare  this  to  the  principal  motory  centre  of  the 
cortex  sending  out  an  impulse  for  a  certain  movement 
of  a  limb.  But  the  general  does  not  give  the  order 
himself  to  each  individual  soldier,  any  more  than  the 
cerebral  cortex  does  to  each  individual  muscle ;  but 
the  order  is  first  given  to  subordinate  officers,  who 
arrange  exactly  how  the  movement  shall  be  executed, 
and  their  orders  are  in  the  end  distributed  to  the 
individual  men,  who  must  move  in  harmony  with 

1  "  Two  Lectures  on  the  Physiology  of  the  Emotions,"  by  Dr 
F.  W.  Mott.      Delivered  at  King's  College,  London. 


MATTER  OF  BASAL  GANGLIA          119 

their  fellows  with  regard  to  space  and  time.  So  the 
subsidiary  nerve  centres  or  positions  of  relay  (basal 
ganglia)  enable  the  impulses  to  be  distributed  to 
various  sets  of  muscles  which  contract  harmoniously, 
and  effect  the  required  movements  of  the  head  and 
body.1 

The  sensory  organs  possessed  by  mammalia  are  of  a 
distinctly  high  order  ;  in  not  a  few  of  them  the  sense 
of  smell  is  well  developed.  Dr  G.  Mann  removed  the 
olfactory  bulbs  of  recently  born  rabbits,  and  found  it 
impossible  to  rear  these  animals  in  consequence  of 
their  inability  to  appreciate  the  difference  between 
wholesome  and  unwholesome  food.  The  aural  and 
visual  sense  organs  of  dogs  have  reached  a  high 
state  of  development,  their  nervous  elements  being  in 
intimate  relation  with  ganglionic  nerve-cells  of  the 
basal  ganglia. 

We  can  therefore  explain  the  movements  and 
emotions  displayed  by  a  dog  after  the  removal  of  the 
cortical  substance  of  his  cerebrum,  by  assuming  that 
energy  passing  from  the  various  sensory  organs  reaches 
his  optic  thalami  and  becomes  transmuted  by  its  nervous 
substance  into  a  form  which  brings  motor  elements  of  the 
corpora  striata  into  play,  its  action  becoming  manifest 
in  certain  instinctive  and  emotional  movements.  The 
animal's  instinctive  movements,  such  as  that  of  taking 
her  food  when  brought  close  to  her  mouth,  and  her 
emotional  snarl  and  bark  when  disturbed,  demonstrate 
the  fact  that  actions  of  this  kind  may  be  effected  inde- 
pendently of  the  cerebral  cortex.  The  animal's  memory 
for  all  she  had  acquired  during  her  lifetime  was 
abolished  with  the  destruction  of  her  cerebral  cortex, 

1  "  The  Handbook  of  Physiology,"  pp.  680,  681. 


120  FUNCTIONS   OF   THE 

but  her  hereditary  character  continued  to  manifest 
itself  in  her  instinctive  and  emotional  movements, 
blunted,  it  is  true,  in  consequence  of  the  damage  her 
basal  ganglia  had  received  in  the  removal  of  her  cere- 
bral cortex. 

The  animal  mutilated  by  Professor  Goltz  was  at 
the  time  fully  grown,  and  her  nervous  system  had 
been  moulded  into  the  form  possessed  by  her  through 
sensory  impressions  operating  on  the  nervous  elements 
of  many  pre-existing  generations.  Structural  modi- 
fications in  the  nervous  elements  of  her  basal  ganglia 
had  thus  been  established,  to  be  called  into  action  by 
stimuli  of  a  similar  nature  to  those  which  had  led  to 
these  impressions  on  the  living  nervous  substance  of 
her  central  nervous  system. 

For  instance,  this  mutilated  animal  refused  to  eat 
meat  which  had  been  soaked  in  a  solution  of  quinine, 
its  actions  showing  disgust  at  the  taste  of  the  bitter 
meat.  As  Dr  Mott  observes,  the  refusal  of  the  animal 
to  swallow  the  doctored  food  was  an  instinctive  act  in 
that  it  was  protective  to  the  alimentary  canal  and  the 
vital  organs  of  the  body,  just  as  pain  protects  the 
external  surface  of  the  body. 

That  action  of  this  kind  depends  on  inherited  in- 
stincts is  shown  by  the  fact  stated  by  Professor 
Sherrington.  After  separating  the  brain  of  a  nine  week's 
old  pup  from  its  connections  with  the  heart  and 
viscera,  he  offered  the  animal  some  dog's  flesh  as  food, 
which  the  pup  absolutely  refused  to  touch.  Professor 
Sherrington  remarks,  "  this  aversion  to  dogs'  flesh  was 
due  to  olfactory  impressions,  and  that  '  dog  will  not 
eat  dog'  may,  in  the  long  procession  of  the  ages,  have 
led  to  the  establishment  of  a  pre-organised  mechanism 


BASAL   GANGLIA  121 

by  which  disgust  at  dogs'  flesh  might  occur  reflexly  in 
the  medulla.1 

Darwin  has  given  us  his  reasons  for  believing  that 
domesticated  dogs  are  descended  from  two  species  of 
wolves  and  several  species  of  jackals.  The  habits  of 
domesticated  dogs  in  North  America  and  the  wolves 
of  that  part  of  the  world  are  very  similar,  and  the 
same  remark  applies  to  the  pariah  dogs  of  India  and 
jackals.2  The  habit  of  barking,  however,  is  an  excep- 
tion to  this  rule,  a  habit  which  is  almost  universal 
with  domesticated  dogs,  but  is  not  known  to  exist 
in  a  single  natural  family  of  these  animals,  although 
the  Canis  latrans  of  North  America  utter  sounds 
which  closely  resemble  a  bark  ;  and  our  domesticated 
dogs  are  said  to  lose  the  habit  of  barking  when  they 
pass  back  into  a  wild  state,  But  they  regain  this  power 
when  they  again  return  to  their  former  environment,  that 
is,  to  the  society  of  their  barking  companions,  showing 
that  their  mimetic  faculties  are  still  in  operation. 

It  is  useless  for  us  to  speculate  as  to  how  or  when 
dogs  learnt  to  bark,  but  as  this  was  a  useful  habit  to 
man  he  doubtless  cultivated  those  species  of  dogs 
best  able  to  warn  him  of  approaching  enemies.  In 
the  course  of  time  the  power  to  bark,  like  that  of  the 
vocal  powers  of  birds,  became  an  hereditary  character. 

The  different  barks  of  dogs  with  which  we  are 
familiar,  are  the  product  of  long-continued  civilisation. 
Some  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  several  breeds,  as 
Darwin  observes,  have  been  effected  by  selection,  both 

1  "  Two  Lectures  on  the  Physiology  of  the  Emotions,"  by  Dr  F. 
W.  Mott,  p.  19. 

2  "  Animals  and   Plants  under  Domestication,"    by  C.    Darwin, 
vol.  i.  pp.  44,  45. 


122          DARWIN  ON  THE  CHARACTER 

methodical  and  unconscious,  of  slight  individual  differ- 
ences, the  latter  kind  of  selection  resulting  from  the 
occasional  preservation,  during  hundreds  of  generations, 
of  those  dogs  which  were  the  most  useful  to  man 
under  certain  conditions  of  life.1 

The  skulls  of  the  wild  species  from  which  our 
domesticated  dogs  are  supposed  to  have  been  derived, 
retain  a  marked  uniformity  of  form  and  size,  whereas 
in  domesticated  animals  great  diversity  in  this  respect 
exists,  as  for  instance  between  the  form  of  the  skull  of 
a  bloodhound  and  a  greyhound.  Much  of  this  differ- 
ence is  attributable  to  the  fancy  of  the  breeder  ;  thus 
collies  in  their  natural  state  are  remarkably  sagacious 
animals,  but  it  having  become  the  fashion  to  produce 
long  narrow-headed  collies  by  cross  breeding,  this  has 
been  accomplished,  but  at  no  less  a  sacrifice  than  the 
loss  of  character  and  mental  capacity  which  dis- 
tinguishes the  stock  from  which  these  animals  were 
derived.  For  with  the  small  skull  there  is  a  small 
brain  as  compared  with  the  body,  attended  with  a 
corresponding  loss  of  intellectual  power.2 

Darwin  was  probably  correct  in  his  idea  that  our 
domesticated  dogs  are  derived  from  wild  species  ;  if 
this  be  the  case,  it  indicates  the  influence  which  various 
modes  of  energy  have  exercised  in  moulding  certain 
elements  of  the  cerebrum  into  harmony  with  the 
action  of  an  altered  environment.  That  a  great  change 
has  taken  place  in  the  characters  displayed  by  wolves 
and  foxes  and  our  domestic  dogs  is  evident ;  many  of 
the  latter  are  man's  devoted  friends,  and  yet  show 
clearly  that  their  hereditary  instincts  continue  to 

1  See  note  on  this  subject,  "  Human  Speech,"  p.  240. 

2  Idem. 


OF    DOMESTICATED    DOGS  123 

influence  some  of  their  movements,  with  a  tendency 
after  a  few  generations  to  lose  their  acquired  characters 
and  revert  to  the  habits  of  their  progenitors.  This 
point  is  admirably  portrayed  in  Jack  London's  story  of 
"  The  Call  of  the  Wild." 

We  may  capture  and  bring  up  a  cub  by  hand  ;  he 
will  take  to  romping  over  the  lawn  with  our  dogs, 
and  appears  to  be  on  the  road  to  becoming  a  domestic 
animal ;  but  as  soon  as  he  is  fully  grown  he  deserts 
our  home  and  returns  to  the  woods  and  his  natural 
state  of  life.  The  animal's  hereditary  instincts  assert 
themselves  and  overrule  all  he  has  learnt  while  under 
our  care. 


CHAPTER    VII 

IN  the  previous  chapters  of  this  work  we  have 
endeavoured  to  show  that  the  hereditary  character  of 
the  various  classes  of  animals  we  have  referred  to  is 
the  result  of  work  directed  by  purposive  and  instinctive 
elements  ;  in  addition  to  which  we  find  in  the  lower 
orders  of  mammals  indications  of  psychical  activities. 
These  intellectual  processes  become  more  pronounced 
as  we  pass  from  the  lower  to  the  higher  orders  of  this 
class  of  beings,  culminating,  as  we  have  elsewhere 
shown,  in  man's  power  to  express  his  thoughts  in 
intelligent  language.  We  have  now  to  explain  how 
psychical  elements  come  into  operation. 

In  this  enquiry  we  cannot  overlook  the  fact  that 
the  law  of  recapitulation  clearly  indicates  that  in  their 
past  history  man  and  apes  are  structurally  united 
with  the  rest  of  the  animal  world.  It  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  man  originates  by  the  same  physical 
processes  with  the  animals  immediately  below  him  in 
the  scale,  that  he  is  identical  with  them  in  the  early 
stages  of  his  formation,  identical  in  the  mode  of  his 
nutrition  before  and  after  birth,  and  that  their  adult 
structures  exhibit  a  marvellous  likeness  of  organisation.1 
The  main  factor  in  the  evolution  of  each  class  of  animals 
has  been  effected  by  an  increase  in  the  organisation 
of  the  central  nervous  system,  and  this  increase  has 

1  "  Evidence  of  Man's  Place  in  Nature,"  by  J.  Huxley,  p.  67. 

124 


ANTHROPOID    APES  125 

been  determined  by  the  action  of  the  environment 
acting  through  the  sensory  organs.1 

The  man-like  or  anthropoid  apes  to  which  we  refer, 
consist  of  the  gibbons,  orangs,  chimpanzees  and 
gorillas,  as,  according  to  Professor  A.  Keith,  their  struc- 
tures as  a  whole  are  most  nearly  related  to  those  which 
form  the  bodies  of  human  beings.  The  chimpanzee 
and  gorilla  are  natives  of  Africa,  the  former  attains 
a  height  of  nearly  five  feet  when  in  the  erect  position  ; 
and  the  latter  as  much  as  five  feet,  with  a  circum- 
ference round  the  chest  of  four  feet  four  inches,  its 
weight  being  about  180  Ibs. 

The  usual  mode  of  progression  of  these  apes  is 
effected  by  resting  the  knuckles  of  their  hands  on  the 
ground,  they  thrust  their  arms  forward,  and  then  give 
the  body  a  half-jumping  half-swinging  motion  between 
them.  These  apes  however  at  times  assume  the 
erect  position  in  walking,  their  bodies  being  much 
inclined  forwards,  and  balanced  by  their  arms  and 
hands  thrust  backwards  so  as  to  meet  either  behind 
their  head  or  their  loins. 

Both  chimpanzees  and  gorillas  build  platforms 
consisting  of  small  branches  and  twigs  which  they 
entwine  together  and  secure  between  the  branches  of 
a  tree  on  which  they  rest  during  the  night.  In  the 
daytime  they  wander  in  groups  through  the  forest  in 
search  of  fruit  and  such-like  food.  The  powerful 
canine  teeth  of  these  apes  indicate  carnivorous 
propensities,  but  in  no  state  save  that  of  domestication 
do  they  manifest  them.  At  first  in  confinement  they 
reject  flesh,  but  easily  acquire  a  fondness  for  it.2 

1  "  The  Origin  of  Vertebrates,"  by  W.  H.   Gaskell,  p.  498  ;  and 
"  Human  Speech,"  p.  140.  2  Huxley,  p.  44. 


126  EMOTIONAL   CHARACTERS 

The  chimpanzee  is  a  peace-loving  animal  who 
prefers  flight  as  a  means  of  escape  from  enemies, 
rather  than  acting  on  the  defensive ;  he  seldom  if  ever 
acts  on  the  offensive.  On  the  other  hand  the  male 
gorilla  is  a  ferocious  brute,  and  an  object  of  terror  to 
the  people  of  the  country  in  which  he  lives.  When 
disturbed  in  his  native  forest  he  is  said  to  utter  a 
prolonged  shrill  cry ;  his  enormous  jaws  are  widely 
opened,  his  lips  are  retracted  displaying  his  formidable 
array  of  teeth,  the  hairy  ridge  of  his  scalp  is  contracted 
upon  the  brow,  and  altogether  presents  a  ferocious 
aspect. 

Other  emotions  such  as  those  of  sorrow  are  marked 
features  displayed  by  various  orders  of  primates. 
Thus,  the  author  was  out  shooting  among  the  hills 
near  Colgong  on  the  Ganges.  Returning  home  in  the 
evening,  we  came  across  a  number  of  Bengal  macaques. 
Among  them  was  a  female  seated  on  a  ledge  of  rock 
with  a  young  one  close  to  her.  One  of  our  party, 
without  a  moment's  thought,  fired,  and  killed  the 
young  monkey.  Its  body  rolled  down  the  rock,  and 
after  it  sprang  its  mother  ;  when  she  reached  the  dead 
body,  she  took  it  up  in  her  arms  and  fondled  it  in  the 
way  a  human  mother  would  handle  her  sick  child,  at 
the  same  time  uttering  the  most  piteous  wail,  which 
drew  around  her  a  crowd  of  her  companions.  The 
actions  of  this  animal  indicated  her  intense  grief  at 
the  death  of  her  young — feelings  which  she  expressed 
in  movements  closely  resembling  those  of  a  human 
being  under  like  circumstances.1  Our  party  were 
one  and  all  much  impressed  by  what  they  witnessed 

1  As  Darwin  remarks,  the  principle  of  action  is  the  same  in  the 
two  cases.  "  The  Descent  of  Man,"  vol.  i.  p.  40. 


IN   ANTHROPOID    APES  127 

and  returned  to  camp  feeling  and  expressing  no  small 
resentment  towards  the  individual  who  had  been  the 
cause  of  so  much  anguish  to  the  mother  of  the  young 
macaque. 

From  the  action  taken  by  the  troop  of  monkeys 
to  which  we  have  referred,  it  would  seem  they  evinced 
a  distinct  sympathy  with  their  bereft  comrade  in  her 
grief.  Beyond  this  they  moved  in  a  body  round  her, 
thereby  showing  social  instincts. 

Numerous  facts  are  recorded  of  the  services  to  each 
other  displayed  by  apes  when  members  of  their  tribe 
are  threatened  by  enemies.  Brehm  states  that  when 
in  Abyssinia  on  one  occasion  he  encountered  a  great 
troop  of  baboons  which  were  crossing  a  valley  :  some  had 
already  ascended  the  opposite  mountain,  and  some  were 
still  in  the  valley  ;  the  latter  were  attacked  by  dogs, 
but  the  old  male  baboons  immediately  hurried  down 
the  rocks,  and  with  mouths  wide  opened  roared  so 
fearfully,  that  the  dogs  retreated  before  them.  The 
dogs  were  again  encouraged  to  the  attack,  but  this  time 
all  the  baboons  had  reascended  the  heights,  except  a 
young  one,  about  six  months  old,  who,  loudly  calling 
for  aid  climbed  on  a  block  of  rock.  Now  one  of  the 
largest  males  came  down  again  from  the  mountain, 
slowly  went  to  the  young  one,  coaxed  him,  and 
triumphantly  led  him  away.1 

Darwin  gives  a  curious  account  of  the  instinctive 
dread  which  monkeys  exhibit  towards  snakes.  He 
introduced  a  live  snake  in  a  paper  bag  with  the  mouth 
loosely  closed  into  one  of  the  larger  compartments  of 
the  monkey  house  in  the  Zoological  Gardens.  One 
of  the  monkeys  immediately  approached,  cautiously 

1  "  The  Descent  of  Man,"  by  Charles  Darwin,  vol.  i.  p.  75. 


128  MIMETIC    FACULTIES 

opened  the  bag  and  peeped  in,  but  instantly  dashed  away. 
Monkey  after  monkey,  with  head  raised  high  a,nd 
turned  on  one  side,  peeped  into  the  bag,  and  seeing 
the  snake  fast  asleep  at  the  bottom  started  back 
and  bolted  to  a  distant  corner  of  the  cage.  This 
instinctive  dread  of  snakes  is  however  not  confined  to 
monkeys.  The  author  has  seen  large  birds  and  various 
carnivorous  animals  assume  a  demeanour  of  abject  fear 
when  brought  into  a  room  in  which  a  live  cobra  was 
confined  in  a  glass  case. 

The  mimetic  faculties  of  apes  are  proverbial,  and 
one  has  only  to  watch  their  actions  when  under 
proper  training  to  be  sure  that  they  learn  by 
experience,  and  by  imitating  the  movements  of  their 
instructors.  Their  power  of  attention  varies  even 
among  members  of  the  same  species.  Mr  Bartlett 
states  that  a  man  who  was  in  the  habit  of  training 
monkeys  was  willing  to  pay  five  pounds  for  some  of 
them  ;  but  he  offered  to  give  double  the  price,  if  he 
might  keep  three  or  four  monkeys  for  a  few  days,  in 
order  to  select  one.  When  asked  how  he  could 
possibly  so  soon  learn  whether  a  particular  monkey 
would  turn  out  a  good  actor,  he  answered,  that  it 
all  depended  on  their  power  of  attention.  If,  when 
he  was  talking  and  explaining  anything  to  a  monkey, 
its  attention  was  easily  distracted,  as  by  a  fly  on  the 
wall  or  other  trifling  object,  the  case  was  hopeless. 
If  he  tried  by  punishment  to  make  an  inattentive 
monkey  act,  it  turned  sulky. 

The  instinctive,  emotional,  and  mimetic  actions  and 
the  power  of  attention  possessed  by  apes,  are  referable,  as 
is  the  case  with  the  lower  classes  of  animals,  to  work 
performed  by  the  nervous  substance  of  their  basal 


OF   ANTHROPOID   APES  129 

ganglia,  in  response  to  impressions  received  by  its  living 
substance  from  the  various  sensory  organs  of  the 
body.  The  actions  we  refer  to  are  hereditary  in 
character,  such,  for  instance,  as  building  resting  places 
in  trees  so  as  to  escape  from  the  attacks  of  their 
enemies  during  the  night ;  the  loving  timid  nature  of 
some,  and  ferocity  of  other  species,  their  affection  for 
their  young  and  mode  of  expressing  their  grief,  the 
sympathy  shown  to  their  companions  in  distress — are 
traits  of  hereditary  character  displayed  by  apes  of  the 
same  species  scattered  over  widely  separated  areas  of 
the  globe. 

These  characters  may  be  improved  by  judicious 
training,  but  they  cannot  be  eradicated,  unless,  per- 
haps, by  an  alteration  of  the  environment  extending 
over  many  generations.  The  power  possessed  by  apes 
of  learning  to  accomplish  certain  complex  movements, 
such  as  those  necessary  to  enable  them  to  take  a  part 
in  a  play,  is  hereditary,  the  knowledge  they  have 
gained  by  learning  is  non-hereditary. 

It  is  true  that  birds  and  dogs  may  be  taught  to 
perform  various  tricks,  and  reptiles  learn  by  experi- 
ence to  select  the  most  direct  of  devious  paths  by 
which  to  reach  their  food.  Birds  possess  a  rather 
higher  development  of  cortical  matter  than  reptiles,  and 
they  are  capable  of  reaching  a  higher  order  of  learning 
than  a  turtle.  In  dogs  the  cerebral  cortex  is  still 
more  perfectly  developed  than  it  is  in  birds,  and  their 
basal  ganglia  and  sensory  organs  are  not  inferior  to 
those  of  apes  ;  it  is  well  known  that  these  animals 
may  be  trained  to  perform  acts  of  a  complicated 
character,  and  some  of  them  exhibit  rudimentary 
intellectual  powers.  This  latter  power,  we  hold,  con- 
i 


130  HEREDITARY   CHARACTER 

sists  in  the  association  of  impressions  which  by 
repetition  have  become  fixed  in  the  living  matter  of  the 
cerebral  nervous  centres,  and  which  the  animal  has 
by  practice  learned  to  link  together  and  employ  to 
his  own  advantage.  In  apes  we  find  the  development 
of  the  cerebral  cortex,  and  other  parts  of  the  brain 
and  sensory  organs,  are  inferior  only  to  those  of  human 
beings,  and  with  this  high  order  of  nervous  organisa- 
tion their  instinctive,  imitative,  emotional,  and 
intellectual  powers  are  of  a  higher  order  than  those 
possessed  by  dogs. 

We  trace  therefore  in  these  classes  of  animals  a 
progressive  capacity  to  learn,  extending  from  lower  to 
higher  classes  of  beings,  and  this  power  bears  a  direct 
relation  to  the  development  of  the  cortical  substance 
or  neopallium  of  their  cerebral  hemispheres.  With 
the  destruction  of  this  substance  the  hereditary 
character  possessed  by  the  animal  may  continue,  but 
all  that  he  has  learnt  during  his  lifetime  is  abolished.1 

This  fact  explains  our  meaning  in  referring  to  the 
hereditary  character  of  animals,  including  the  primates, 
as  being  something  apart  from  their  intellectual 
acquirements. 

In  the  first  part  of  this  work  (Human  Speech)  we 
referred  to  the  development  and  structural  arrange- 
ment of  the  nervous  substance  of  the  spinal  cord  arid 
brain,  so  that  it  is  unnecessary  for  us  to  recur  to  this 

1  The  term  Neopallium  is  employed  to  signify  the  "  pallium  " 
or  cortex  of  that  part  of  the  cerebral  hemispheres  with  which  we  are 
mainly  concerned,  as  being  distinct  from  the  pallium  of  other  lobes 
or  regions  of  the  brain.  The  term  is  well  chosen  by  Professor  G.  Elliot 
Smith,  because  this  cortex  or  pallium  consists  of  superadded  nervous 
structures  to  those  which  exist  in  the  lower  classes  of  vertebrates 
(see  p.  91). 


IN   LOWER   VERTEBRATES 


131 


subject ;  but  in  order  to  explain  the  commanding 
psychical  powers  possessed  by  human  beings  as  com- 
pared with  those  of  the  lower  animals,  we  must  allude 
to  the  increased  complexity  and  to  the  great  develop- 
ment of  the  neopallium  or  cortical  areas  of  the  cerebral 
hemispheres  in  man1  (Fig.  15). 

The  cortical  substance  or  neopallium  of  an  educated 


Brocas    Convolution 
or    senso    motor 
speech  ttnlrr. 


tsuo- 
•stnsoru 
area. 


a-u.di.tory 'centre 
or  area. 


FIG.  15. — Diagram  of  left  cerebral  hemisphere    (outer  surface;  of  human  brain 
(From  Halliburton's  "  Handbook  of  Physiology,"  p.  688.) 

Englishman's  brain  averages,  in  its  exposed  and  sunken 
surface,  about  200,000  square  mm. ;  its  thickness 
varies,  but  averages  about  2  mm.,  and  is  formed  of 
five  strata  or  layers  of  cells,  together  with  a  mass  of 
nerve  fibres  with  their  supporting  structure  (neuroglia), 
blood  vessels  and  lymphatics. 

With  regard  to  the  layers  of  cells  which  constitute 
the  outer  gray  substance  of  the  cerebral  cortex,  they 

1  "  Human  Speech,"  p.  154. 


132 


GANGLIONIC   NERVE   CELLS 


may  be  described  as  forming  five  strata,  from  which 
fibres  proceed  to  other  parts  of  the  nervous  system, 
and  in  which  fibres  terminate  passing  from  all  parts 
of  the  body.  These  five  layers  of  cortical  nerve-cells 
and  fibres  may  be  represented  in  a  diagrammatic  form 
(Fig.  16). 


Superficial     layer    of     nerve 
fibres,  "molecular"  layer. 


Small,    medium,    and    large 
pyramidal  cells. 


Granular  or  stellate  cell  layer. 


Inner  layer    of   nerve  fibres 
with  large  solitary  cells. 


Inner   layer    of  polymorphic 
cells. 


J.  Molecular  layer  of  cells. 


II.  Supra-granular"  layer, 
Pyramidal  cells. 


III.  Granular  layer. 


Infra-granular  layer. 


FIG  16. — Diagram  showing  approximately  the  relative  depth  of  the  cerebral 
cortex  or  neopallium  of  an  adult  human  brain.  (After  J.  S.  Bolton.) 

The  II,  or  pyramidal  layer,  to  which  may  be  added 
the  outer  fibre  lamina,  I,  are  the  prominent  feature  of 
the  human  cortex,  and  constitute  a  "  higher  level " 
basis  for  carrying  on  cerebral  functions.1  It  is  the 
last  cell  layer  of  the  cortex  to  be  evolved,  and  the  first 
to  undergo  retrogression.  This  layer  "  subserves 
the  psychic  or  association  functions  of  the  cerebrum ; 

1  J.  Shaw  Bolton,  on  "  Recent  Researches  on  Cortical  Localisation 
and  on  the  Functions  of  the  Cerebrum,"  p.  295,  "  Further  Advances 
in  Physiology,"  edited  by  Leonard  Hill. 


OF   THE   NEOPALLIUM  133 

it  is  functionally  correlated  with  educability  and 
general  intelligence  which  appears  in  an  increasing 
degree  in  the  various  orders  of  the  mammalian  scale. 

This  supra-granular  layer,  IT,  so  poorly  developed  in 
human  beings  at  birth,  and  so  slow  in  reaching 
maturity,  is  well  nigh  absent  in  the  lower  orders  of 
mammals.  When  fully  matured  the  living  substance 
of  the  pyramidal  cells  of  this  layer  directs  those 
activities  which  the  animal  has  acquired  during  his 
lifetime,  and  with  behaviour  which  may  arise  in  relation 
to  some  new  situation,  and  so  indicating  intelligence 
as  apart  from  instinctive  acts. 

The  III,  lamina  (granule  or  middle  layer)  is  de- 
veloped after  the  V,  or  inner  layer.  This  lamina 
"  primarily  subserves  the  reception'  or  immediate 
transformation  of  afferent  impressions,  whether  these 
arise  directly  from  the  lower  sensory  neurones  or 
indirectly  through  other  regions  of  the  cerebrum." 

"  The  V,  polymorphic,  or  inner  cell  lamina  of  the 
cortex  cerebri,  is  the  first  to  become  differentiated 
during  the  process  of  lamination.  In  human  beings, 
in  association  with  the  inner  fibres,  this  layer  "  sub- 
serves the  lower  voluntary  and  instinctive  activities 
of  the  animal  economy,  and  thus  forms  a  lower  basis 
level  for  the  carrying  on  of  cerebral  functions."1 
This  layer  of  cells  may  be  traced  back  to  instinctive 
matter  out  of  which  it  has  become  developed;  the 
superimposed  layers,  constituting  the  great  association 
area  of  the  human  brain  has,  in  its  turn,  been  evolved 
from  this  lower  instinctive  stratum  of  living  nervous 
matter  which  constitutes  the  polymorphic  or  granular 
layer  of  the  cortex. 

1  Dr  J.  S.  Bolton,  p.  297,  "  Further  Advances  in  Physiology,"  1909. 


134  DEVELOPMENT   OF 

We  thus  come  to  learn  that  the  inner  layer  of  the 
neopalliutn  in  human  beings  is  derived  from  living 
instinctive  elements  located  in  the  basal  ganglia,  and 
that  from  this  layer  of  the  cerebral  cortex  the  outer  or 
psychical  elements  of  the  brain  have  been  developed, 
in  other  words  the  nervous  substance  by  means  of  which 
the  intellectual  faculties  are  elaborated,  have  been 
evolved  out  of  matter  possessing  instinctive  and  emo- 
tional qualities. 

It  is  to  be  noticed  that  the  cerebral  cortex  of  the 
human  brain  is  to  a  large  extent  constituted  of  the 
inner  or  instinctive  layer  of  living  matter,  and  to- 
gether with  the  layers  of  psychical  elements  forms 
the  large  mass  of  nervous  substance  which  characterises 
the  human  cerebrum.  We  can  thus  realise  the 
important  part  which  the  hereditary  instinctive  and 
emotional  faculties  take  in  ordering  the  likes  and 
dislikes,  the  pleasure  and  pain,  and  many  other 
emotional  activities  which,  to  a  large  extent,  influence 
the  personal  character  and  the  life-long  career  of 
human  beings.1 

The  cranial  capacity  of  an  adult  male  gorilla 
amounts  to  about  600  c.c.,  that  of  tertiary  man  to 
950  c.c.,  and  of  an  educated  Englishman  to  about 

1  Charles  Darwin  lays  stress  on  the  idea  that  almost  all  motions 
of  expression  are  the  result  of  inherited  qualities,  and  have  been 
evolved  from  a  common  source.  The  facial  expression  of  rage  and 
hate,  for  instance,  in  man  consists  in  the  retraction  of  the  lips  and 
the  exposure  of  the  teeth ;  particularly  of  the  corners  of  the  upper 
lips,  so  that  the  canine  teeth  become  visible.  In  the  same  way 
dogs,  cats,  and  apes  expose  the  canine  teeth  when  angry,  a  fitting 
preparation  in  their  case  for  battle.  In  man  the  advantage  of  this 
movement  no  longer  exists ;  but  the  movement  has  been  retained 
as  the  expression  of  the  specific  emotion  which  accompanies  the 
sight  of  an  enemy. 


THE   NEOPALLIUM  135 

1485  c.c.  This  great  difference  in  the  cranial 
capacity  of  these  orders  of  beings  represents  the 
difference  that  exists  between  the  dimensions  of  the 
cortical  substance  of  their  cerebral  hemispheres. 
The  area  occupied  by  this  specialised  form  of  nervous 
matter  is  greatly  increased  by  means  of  the  fissures 
or  foldings  into  which  it  extends. 

According  to  Dr  E.  Dubois,  there  is  a  more  or  less 
intimate  relationship  between  the  extent  of  the  cortex 
or  the  weight  of  the  brain  and  the  extent  of  the 
surface  of  an  animal's  body.  Since  the  year  1897, 
when  Dubois  promulgated  his  ideas  on  this  subject, 
they  have  been  confirmed  by  independent  observers. 

The  following  is  a  summary  of  Dr  Dubois  observa- 
tions on  this  subject  : x— 

Dr  Dubois  starts  with  the  assumption  that  the  brain 
consists  entirely  of  the  central  parts  of  reflex  arcs,  the 
function  of  which  is  to  bring  sensory  and  motor  nerves  into 
relation  with  each  other,  and  concludes  that  in  animals 
presenting  the  same  degree  of  psychical  development,  the 
number  and  weight  of  these  reflex  arcs  would  be  propor- 
tional, approximately,  to  the  number  of  sensory  nervous 
fibres.  In  two  animals  in  the  same  stage  of  psychical 
evolution,  but  of  different  bulk,  the  number  of  sensory 
nervous  fibres  will  then  be  proportional  to  the  total  extent 
of  the  perceptive  surface,  that  is  to  say,  to  the  extent  of 
the  surface  of  the  body.  On  the  other  hand,  in  two  animals 
in  very  different  stages  of  psychical  evolution,  but  of  the 
same  bulk  and  having  therefore  approximately  the  same 
number  of  sensory  fibres,  the  animal  in  whom  the  central 
parts  of  the  reflex  arcs  attain  the  greater  degree  of  com- 
plexity will  have  the  heavier  brain.  Now  it  appears  that 
the  cube  root  of  the  square  of  the  weight  of  an  animal 

1  British  Mad.  Jonrn.  for  Nov.  5,  1905. 


136  DUBOIS    ON   TACTILE 

multiplied  by  a  constant  which  varies  with  each  species 
expresses  with  fair  accuracy  bhe  relative  size  of  the  surface 
of  its  body.  If  S  and  s  be  the  weight  of  the  body  of  two 
animals,  then  the  surfaces  will  be 


,^/ 


S2  and  ,s2  or  S™  and  s™ 

In  two  animals  of  the  same  degree  of  mental  evolution 
and  the  same  bulk  the  weight  of  the  brains  would  be  equal. 
But  if  the  mental  development  differs,  then  we  have  a 
variable  factor,  and  the  problem  is  fco  find  this,  which  will 
express  what  Dubois  calls  the  relative  cephalization,  or 
relative  amount  of  brain  corresponding  to  the  difference 
in  intelligence  in  -the  physiological  sense  of  the  word.  In 
practice  the  factor  by  which  S  is  to  be  multiplied  is  not 
exactly  0'6,  because  in  an  animal  with  a  yery  small  body  a 
part  of  the  perceptive  surfaces  of  its  sensory  organs  is 
relatively  more  extensive,  and  consequently  the  termina- 
tions of  the  sensory  fibres  in  the  brain  are  denser,  and  the 
extent  of  the  cortex  relatively  increased.  Dubois  took  a 
series  of  animals  of  similar  form,  and,  in  his  judgment,  of 
similar  intelligence,  but  differing  very  much  in  size,  choosing, 
of  course,  adult  animals  of  average  weight  and  bulk  ;  by 
an  equation  which  we  need  not  reproduce,  he  calculated 
the  value  of  the  factor  by  which  S  should  be  multiplied  in 
each  case.  He  found  it  to  be  almost  constantly  0'56,  the 
extremes  being  0'54  and  0*58.  He  thus  got  the  equation  — 


where  E  equals  the  weight  of  the  brain,  S  the  weight  of 
the  body,  and  c  the  factor  of  cephalization  indicating  the 
degree  of  intelligence.  Dubois  found  that  the  results 
obtained  by  calculation  in  the  case  of  a  large  number  of 
animals  were  concordant.  Thus  the  factor  of  cephalization 
in  man  was  2'8186,  in  the  monkey  from  0'7607  to  0'4636, 
in  the  donkey  0'4390,  the  horse  CK380,  the  cat  0'3284,  and 
the  mouse  0*0770.  The  only  obvious  defect  in  his  table  is 
that  the  dog  (0*3586)  comes  below  the  horse,  which  is  not 


SENSE   ORGANS  137 

quite  in  accord  with  popular  experience.  Lapicque  and 
Girard  l  have  recently  afforded  striking  confirmation  of  the 
accuracy  of  Dubois's  criterion  by  a  series  of  observations 
on  birds.  They  found  that  the  factor  of  cephalization  in 
the  various  groups  corresponded  with  the  accepted  opinion 
as  to  the  degree  of  intelligence.  The  parrot  was  at  the 
head  of  their  list,  the  barndoor  fowl,  surely  one  of  the  most 
foolish  of  birds,  at  its  tail.  Crows,  magpies,  and  jays  stood 
very  nearly  as  high  as  parrots. 

Another  very  suggestive  result  of  these  observations  is 
that  the  equation  given  above  is  found  to  be  true  not  only 
for  the  total  weight  of  the  brain  as  a  whole  but  for  its 
several  parts,  for  the  cerebral  hemispheres,  the  cerebellum, 
and  the  corpora  quadrigemina. 

There  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  effects  which 
stimuli  received  through  the  tactile  and  other  sensory 
organs  have  upon  the  development  of  corresponding 
areas  of  the  cerebral  cortex,  the  living  matter  of 
which  receives  and  retains  many  of  these  impressions.2 
But  the  cerebral  cortex  of  civilised  human  beings 
contains  a  vast  amount  more  nervous  matter  than 
is  necessary  to  accomplish  these  processes.  It  is  the 
extent  and  organisation  of  this  matter  which  dis- 
tinguishes the  human  brain  from  that  possessed  by 
the  lower  animals.  This  excess  of  cortical  substance 
is  employed  to  associate  the  sensori-memorial  images 
elaborated  by  sensory  centres,  and  to  transform  them 

1  Comptes  rendu  de  I' Academic  des  Science,  10th  April  1905. 

2  In  this  way  we  explain  the  far  greater  size  of  an  elephant's  brain 
than  that  possessed  by  human  beings.     The  surface  of  an  elephant's 
body  being  very  much  more  extensive  than  a  man's,  his  tactile  sense 
organs  are  likewise  more  extensive,  and  consequently  the  size  of  his 
cerebral  hemispheres  are  considerably  larger  than  those  of  a  human 
being,  its  cortical  substance  being  the  ultimate  receptive  organ  of 
tactile  and  other  sensory  impressions. 


138  THE   GREAT  EXTENT   OF 

into  the  psychical  processes  which  pass  to  motor 
areas  of  the  cerebrum,  and  become  manifest  in  intel- 
lectual activities.1 

We  may  form  some  idea  of  the  amount  of  cortical 
cerebral  substance  which  is  necessary  for  the  reception 
of  tactile  and  other  sensory  impressions  in  human 
beings,  by  comparing  it  with  that  of  an  average  male 
gorilla's  brain.  The  weight  and  extent  of  the  surface 
of  the  bodies  of  an  average-sized  man  and  that  of  a 
full-grown  gorilla  do  not  differ  to  any  great  extent. 
But  a  gorilla's  brain  is  never  more  than  half  the  size 
of  the  smallest  adult  human  brain.  Nevertheless  the 
total  volume  of  the  ape's  brain  is  represented  by 
600  c.c.,  and  is  sufficient  to  receive  and  respond  to 
the  animal's  tactile  and  other  sensory  impressions. 
It  follows,  therefore,  that  a  similar  amount  of  nervous 
matter  would  suffice  for  the  same  purpose  in  a  human 
being;  but  his  brain  actually  contains  some  900  c.c. 
more  cerebral  substance  than  is  necessary  to  receive 
and  respond  to  his  sensory  impressions.  The  greater 
part  of  this  excess  of  living  nervous  matter  is  contained 
in  his  cerebral  cortex,  and  the  work  it  performs 
becomes  manifest  in  his  psychical  activities. 

Professor  Elliot  Smith,  referring  to  this  subject,2 
states,  that  as  the  neopallium  assumes  importance 
and  becomes  a  condition  of  survival  for  the  first  time 
in  the  mammalia,  in  each  successive  epoch  it  is  only 
those  mammals  whose  nervous  system  has  effectually 

1  Psychical    processes    are    those    which    effect    modifications    of 
motion   through  the  agency   of  intercurrent  specialised   modes  of 
energy  derived  from  mental  images  (ideas).    Psychical  and  conscious 
processes  are  identical. 

2  Cat.  Roy.  Coll.  Surgeons  Museum,  Phys.  Series,  vol.  ii.  p.  465. 


HUMAN   NEOPALLIUM  139 

responded  to  its  environment,  or  have  developed 
special  protective  structures,  who  continued  to  sur- 
vive. In  the  higher  mammalia  the  development 
of  a  large  neopallium  as  the  organ  of  associative 
memory,  enables  them  to  acquire  the  skill  to  evade 
danger  and  yet  adequately  to  preserve  themselves  and 
reproduce  the  species  to  which  they  helong.  Jn 
many  of  the  Eocene  Mammalia  (Dinoceras  crania,  for 
example)  the  neopallium  is  reduced  to  such  diminutive 
proportions  that  the  brain  resembles  the  reptilian 
type  ;  and  in  each  successive  generation  the  neopallium 
or  cerebral  cortex  becomes  more  extensive  and  com- 
plicated in  structure,  or  the  creature  is  compelled  to 
adopt  some  safe  mode  of  life.  The  hippopotamus 
and  the  sirenia  are  examples  of  mammals  which 
have  not  kept  pace  in  the  fierce  race  for  neopallial 
supremacy,  but  survive  by  adopting  habits  of  life 
which  are  eminently  safe.  The  condition  of  the 
human  brain  represents  the  other  extreme.  Here 
the  neopallium  has  attained  its  maximum  develop- 
ment, yet  its  possessor  has  not  had  to  seek  refuge 
either  in  a  retired  mode  of  life  or  by  any  protective 
specialisations  of  structure  either  for  offence  or  defence, 
but  has  attained  a  dominant  position  in  the  animal 
kingdom  whilst  retaining  much  of  the  generalised 
structural  features  of  a  primitive  mammal. 

Each  of  the  sensory  organs  is  adapted  to  receive  a 
special  form  of  energy  derived  from  the  external 
world  or  from  muscular  movements,  and  to  transmit  it 
by  nerve  fibres  which  terminate  in  the  living  matter 
of  corresponding  nervous  centres,  these  areas  form 
the  visual,  auditory,  tactile,  and  other  sensori- 
memorial  nervous  centres,  their  living  substance 


140  SENSORI-MEMORIAL 

transmutes  a  part  of  the  energy  it  thus  receives  into 
what  we  term  a  sensation,  and  part  of  it  becomes 
impressed  on  the  nervous  matter  to  be  subsequently 
released  by  similar  or  other  impressions  made  upon  it. 
How  excitation  of  the  living  matter  of  the  nerve  cells 
forming  the  visual  and  other  sensori-memorial  centres 
should  excite  what  we  call  a  sensation  in  us,  is 
neither  more  nor  less  unaccountable  than  any  other 
ultimate  fact  of  nature.  But  it  is  clear  from  evidence 
to  which  we  have  referred,  that  if  the  nerve  tracts 
between  the  receptors  of  energy  and  the  sensori- 
memorial  centres  are  divided,  or  if  the  living  substance 
of  the  centre  is  destroyed,  the  sensations,  which  it  is 
the  function  of  this  area  of  nervous  matter  to 
elaborate,  are  abolished.1 

Not  only  do  the  nervous  centres  for  vision  respond 
to  the  stimulus  of  light,  but  certain  parts  of  them  are 
specialised  so  as  to  recognise  the  various  colours. 
Thus  in  a  case  we  have  referred  to  in  our  eighth 
chapter,  the  individual,  as  a  result  of  disease  affecting 
definite  portions  of  his  visual  centres,  entirely  lost  the 
power  of  distinguishing  one  colour  from  another,  but 
in  other  respects  his  vision  was  normal.  Again,  in  the 
case  referred  to  ("  Human  Speech,"  p.  214),  the  patient 
as  the  result  of  disease  of  both  areas  of  her  cerebral 
cortex  in  which  the  auditory  centres  are  located, 
became  completely  deaf,  and  also  speechless  in  conse- 
quence of  the  loss  of  the  memory  impressions  she  had 


1  For  the  sake  of  clearness  we  write  concerning  the  visual,  auditory, 
and  tactile  sensori-memorial  centres,  but  it  is  always  to  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  brain  contains  a  right  and  a  left  hemisphere,  and  that 
each  hemisphere  possesses  a  visual,  auditory  and  tactile  centre ; 
if  one  is  destroyed  the  other  may  act. 


CEREBRAL   CENTRES  141 

previously  gained  of  word  sounds ;  in  fact  her  entire 
auditory  mnemic  nervous  substance  had  been  de- 
stroyed, and  with  it  her  power  to  form  sensations  out 
of  word  sounds,  or  receive  new  impressions  of  words  to 
supply  those  which  had  been  destroyed  by  the  loss 
of  her  auditory  cerebral  centres. 

Memorial  impressions  made  on  the  living  substance 
of  specialised  nervous  matter  appear  to  exist  in  a 
latent  state  for  years,  and  may  then  not  only  be  re- 
excited  by  external  stimuli,  but  also  from  energy 
derived  from  chemical  or  other  sources  within  the 
organism.  Mr  Brudnell  Carter  describes  a  remark- 
able instance  of  this  description  which  came  under  his 
notice  some  years  ago.  A  lady  whose  father  was 
English,  but  her  mother  of  mixed  English  and  French 
descent,  was  born  in  France,  and  lived  there  until  she 
was  nearly  nine  years  old,  speaking  only  French,  and 
in  the  care  of  a  French  nurse.  She  then  came  to 
England,  went  to  an  English  school,  and  the  French 
language  lost  its  hold  upon  her.  As  a  young  woman, 
she  retained  a  native  accent,  but  she  had  taken  pains 
to  master  the  English  language  and  to  increase  her 
vocabulary,  and  never  spoke  French  if  she  could  avoid 
it,  being  in  fact  almost  aggressively  proud  of  her 
English  nationality.  She  married,  and  during  her 
first  pregnancy  she  had  a  severe  illness.  She  became 
unconscious.  A  dead  child  was  born.  A  day  or  two 
after,  she  began  to  speak,  and  constantly  repeated,  in 
a  sing-song  tone,  the  words  "  Quand  les  canards,"  to 
which  no  meaning  could  be  attached.  A  day  or  two 
later  she  began  to  recite  bits  of  English  verse,  and 
showed  evidence  of  distress  when  she  was  unable  to 
continue  them  for  want  of  the  right  word.  She  knew 


142  SENSOBI-MEMORIAL 

no  one  around  her,  and  made  no  other  attempt  to 
speak  than  by  these  recitations,  which  were  mostly 
from  Lalla  Kookh.  In  time  she  perfectly  re- 
covered, and  then  her  old  French  nurse  came  to  see 
her,  and  on  hearing  of  what  had  happened  at  once 
began  to  chant 

"  Quand  les  canards  s'en  vout  par  deux 
C'est  quil's  ont  a  causer  entre  eux," 

and  so  went  on  with  the  old  nursery  rhyme  which  she 
had  sung  a  hundred  times  to  this  lady,  when  as  an 
infant  she  lay  in  her  cradle,  and  which  had  remained 
latent  in  the  lady's  memorial  auditory  nervous  sub- 
stance until  re-excited  probably  by  impressions  derived 
from  chemical  stimuli  engendered  by  processes  con- 
nected with  her  pregnancy. 

Each  of  the  sensori-memorial  cortical  centres  is 
surrounded  by  a  zone  of  psychical  nervous  substance, 
possessing  the  power  of  transmuting  impressions  re- 
ceived as  sensations  into  ideas  or  mental  images  of 
the  form,  substance,  or  the  motion  of  the  various 
objects  or  organs  of  the  body  from  which  the 
stimulus  causing  the  sensations  are  derived.  These 
parts  of  the  nervous  system  become  matured  at  an 
early  period  of  child  life,  in  fact  long  before  the 
corresponding  cortical  association  areas  have  been  fully 
developed.  Young  children,  therefore,  can  form  ideas  of 
things  before  they  reach  the  age  when  their  brains  are 
fully  developed  so  as  to  associate  these  ideas,  and  thus 
enable  them  to  think.  The  part  taken  by  the  living 
substance  of  the  cells  forming  the  sensori-memorial 
centres  has  been  compared  to  gas-pipes  used  for  an 
illumination.  The  ganglionic  cells  of  these  cortical 


NERVOUS  CENTRES  143 

nervous  centres  are  charged  with  energy,  but  it  is  not 
until  a  spark  (stimulus)  is  applied  which  brings  out 
their  latent  form  and  makes  the  figure  a  reality.1 

Anatomical,  pathological,  and  clinical  evidence 
demonstrate  the  fact  that  between  the  sensori- 
memorial  zones  of  the  human  cerebrum  a  vast  mass 
of  cortical  nervous  matter  exists  which,  when  fully 
developed,  forms  the  association  areas  of  the  brain. 
Ideas  passing  into,  or  influenced  by  energy  derived 
from  these  psychical  areas  by  constant  practice,  and 
the  employment  of  symbols  or  words,  enables  us  to 
express  our  thoughts  in  intelligent  speech.  It  is  the 
clearness,  the  tone,  the  grouping,  and  the  associative 
relations  of  the  ideas  which  constitute  our  thoughts.2 
The  following  diagram  may  help  to  explain  our 
meaning  (Fig.  17). 

We  may  illustrate  our  subject  by  the  complex 
sensation  produced,  for  instance,  by  a  rose.  On 
seeing  a  rose,  the  nerve  ends  of  the  retina  are  stimu- 
lated, the  excitation  passes  from  its  nervous  elements 

1  Ziehen,  "  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Physiological  Psychology," 
pp.  156,  158. 

2  Mr  G.  J.  Romanes  remarks,  "  because  we  see  that  a  great  many 
objects  present  a  certain  common  quality  in  common,  such  as  redness, 
we  find  it  convenient  to  give  this  quality  a  name ;   and  having  done 
this  we  speak  of  redness  in  the  abstract,  or  standing  apart  from 
any  particular  object,  and  having  made  this  symbolical  abstraction 
we  can  compound  it  with  other  abstractions — so  that  as  in  mathe- 
matics the  symbols  which  are  employed  contain,  in  a  manipulated 
form,  the  whole  meaning  of  a  long  calculation,  so  in  all  other  kinds 
of  reasoning  the  symbols  which  we  call  words  contain,  in  an  abbre- 
viated form,  vast  bodies  of  signification."     The  ideas  contained  in 
words  become  associated  in  the  psychical  substance  of  the  brain.     It 
is  this  principle  "  which  renders  possible  all  the  faculties  of  mind, 
memory,    judgment,    reason,    volition." — The    Nineteenth    Century, 
October  1878,  p.  654,  article  on  "  Animal  Intelligence." 


144  SENSORI-MEMORIAL 

to  corresponding  visual  cortical  centres,  and  releases  a 
portion  of  their  energy,  producing  a  visual  sensation 
of  the  rose,  other  portions  of  this  energy  assume  the 
form  of  a  memorial  impression  of  the  flower.  Not 
only  does  a  rose  produce  these  visual  sensations  and 
impression,  but  its  fragrance  acts  in  the  same  way 
on  the  olfactory  centres  ;  and  its  leaves,  by  touch,  on 


FIG.  17. — E  represents  an  auditory  sensory  organ  which  receives,  sifts,  and  transmits 
wave  scunds  to  the  auditory  cortical  centre  A,  where  sensori-memorial  impressions 
are  formed  in  the  shape  of  ideas  or  mental  images  of  the  sounds  which  have 
produced  the  sensation.  These  mental  images  may  be  brought  into  action  by 
various  modes  of  stimulation,  and  in  this  form  pass  to  B,  a  psychical  cortical  area  of 
nervous  matter.  In  areas  of  this  description,  ideas  become  associated  and  moulded 
into  conscious  processes,  thoughts,  and  judgments,  and  as  such  come  to  play  upon 
the  living  substance  of  if,  a  motory  word  centre,  and  thus  become  manifest  in  the 
action  of  VA,  the  vocal  apparatus,  or  other  groups  of  muscles. 

the  tactile  centres.  So  that  at  least  three  mental 
images  of  the  rose,  different  in  quality,  are  deposited 
in  the  memory  cells  of  these  cortical  centres.  The 
ganglionic  cells  of  these  centres  are  closely  connected 
by  associative  fibres,  and  having  been  often  incited 
simultaneously  the  three  component  ideas  or  mental 
images  are  thus  associated  with  one  another,  and 
constitute  the  mental  picture  of  a  rose,  which  acts  on 
the  nervous  elements  of  the  organ  of  speech  and  be- 


AND   ASSOCIATIVE   AREAS  145 

comes  manifest  in  the  expression  of  our  ideas  in  the 
word  "  rose." 

The  association  of  ideas  is  therefore  accomplished 
by  the  co-operation  of  two  kinds  of  impressions  ;  the 
new  sensations  received  from  the  external  world,  and 
the  mental  images  produced  in  the  living  substance  of 
memory  cells.  It  is  the  re- excitation  of  these  latent 
ideas  which  form  so  important  a  part  in  intellectual 
processes.  To  further  illustrate  this  point  Professor 
Ziehen  remarks — we  see  a  dark  cloud,  i.e.  a  stimulation 
has  been  transmitted  from  the  retina  to  the  sensory 
living  matter  of  the  visual  cortical  centre,  and  in 
conjunction  with  the  surrounding  psychical  area,  has 
produced  a  mental  image  or  idea  of  a  dark  cloud.  A 
series  of  related  ideas  are  connected  with  this  idea  by 
association  ;  for  example,  among  them,  the  idea  of 
rain.  The  material  excitation  in  the  memory-cells  of 
the  association  areas  of  the  cortex,  corresponding  to 
this  idea  of  rain,  had  been  formed  by  former  visual 
sensations  of  rain  ;  and  the  appearance  of  the  cloud 
brings  these  memorial  impressions  into  play,  and  thus 
the  idea  of  rain  becomes  associated  with  the  cloud. 
In  the  same  way  this  one  idea  is  followed  by 
numerous  others ;  latent  images  of  memory  are  con- 
stantly being  brought  into  play  and  produce  those 
processes  of  ideation  upon  which  our  thoughts  and 
beliefs  are  based. 

Each  idea  reproduces  as  its  successor  either  an  idea 
that  is  similar  to  it  in  significance,  or  an  idea  with 
which  it  has  often  appeared  before  simultaneously. 
We  have  elsewhere  insisted  on  the  importance  of 
training  the  association  memorial  cells  of  the  cerebral 
cortex  in  young  persons  through  means  of  the  various 
K 


146  THE    DEVELOPMENT    OF 

sensory  organs.  The  child  asks  "  what  is  that,"  and 
in  answer  may  be  told,  "  a  tree,"  in  this  way  a  visual 
idea  and  an  auditory  idea  are  established.  These 
ideas  are  wholly  unlike  each  other,  but  by  virtue  of 
constant  simultaneous  appearance  they  become  closely 
associated.  Professor  B.  Moore  states  that  "  it  is  the 
linking  of  one  reaction  with  another,  and  the  using 
of  the  free  energy  of  one  to  run  another,  that  specially 
characterises  the  cell,"  and  so  it  is  with  the  memory 
cells  of  the  cerebral  cortex,  it  is  the  using  of 
one  to  run  the  qualities  latent  in  another  which 
constitutes  the  power  of  the  human  brain,  and  is 
provided  for  in  the  size  and  complex  nature  of  its 
neopallium. 

Professor  Halliburton  remarks  that  the  importance 
of  the  association  of  ideas  which  have  for  their 
anatomical  basis  the  association  of  cortical  centres, 
will  be  at  once  grasped  when  we  consider  such  com- 
plex actions  as  reading  aloud  or  writing  from  dictation. 
The  position  of  the  main  centres  involved  is  shown  in 
Fig.  17.  In  reading  aloud,  the  impressions  of  the  words 
enter  the  eyes,  reach  that  portion  of  the  cerebral 
cortex  known  as  the  visual  word  centre,  travel  by 
means  of  association  fibres  to  the  auditory  word 
centre,  where  the  memory  of  their  sounds  is  revived  ; 
a  tract  of  association  fibres  connects  this  to  the  sen- 
sori-motor  area  of  Broca's  convolution,  whence  motor 
impulses  originate  which  reach  the  muscles  concerned 
in  pronouncing  the  word  originally  seen.1  Again  in 
writing  from  dictation  the  course  of  the  impulse  is  by 
the  auditory  channels  to  the  auditory  word  centre, 

1  "  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Physiological  Psychology,"  by 
Professor  T.  Ziehen,  pp.  244,  246. 


PSYCHICAL   NERVOUS   MATTER  147 

then  by  association  tracts  to  the  visual  word  centre, 
where  the  shape  of  the  letters  composing  the  words 
are  recorded  ;  another  association  tract  carries  on  the 
impulses  to  the  sensori-motor  area  connected  with  the 
movements  of  the  hand,  and  finally  the  movement  of 
writing  is  accomplished.  The  conscious  phenomena 
depend  on  sensations  by  means  of  which  we  become 
aware  that  the  motion  has  been  executed.  We  see 
the  arm  moving,  we  feel  the  object  seized,  and  finally 
the  sensory  nerves  in  the  interior  of  the  arm  inform 
us  that  the  muscle  has  contracted.  This  sensation  is 
known  as  the  kinaesthetic  sensation  or  sensation  of 
motion. 

The  totality  of  component  ideas  when  associated 
with  one  another  constitute  the  mental  image  of  the 
object.  Beyond  this  human  beings  have  acquired  the 
power  of  naming  these  associated  ideas,  that  is,  of 
uniting  them  in  the  form  of  definite  symbols  or  words 
which  they  employ  to  enable  them  to  think,  reason, 
and  to  express  their  thoughts  in  intelligent  language  : 
the  materials  necessary  to  form  a  nervous  and  muscular 
system  adapted  for  this  purpose  are  inherited,  but  the 
efficient  employment  of  such  a  mechanism  can  only  be 
gained  by  individual  practice. 

Young  children  imitate  the  sounds  which  they 
hear  ;  for  example,  let  us  suppose  the  sound  to  be 
that  of  the  word  "  rose."  In  making  an  effort  to  repeat 
this  word  a  child  brings  the  muscles  and  ligaments  of 
his  vocal  apparatus  into  a  definite  form  of  action, 
thereby  exciting  the  sensory  organs  of  these  structures, 
a  part  of  their  potential  energy  is  consequently  released 
and  passes  to  corresponding  sensori-motor  nervous 
elements  located  in  the  cerebral  cortex ;  a  motor 


148  THE   FUNCTIONS   PERFORMED 

memorial  image  of  the  word  is  thus  formed  in  the 
living  matter  of  this  motor  centre.  By  practice  a 
system  of  this  kind  becomes  perfected,  and  we  con- 
ceive that  if  those  motor  elements  which  contained 
this  impression  were  directly  stimulated  they  might 
discharge  nervous  energy  which  would  re-act  upon  the 
structures  that  had  led  to  the  impression,  and  so 
induce  a  repetition  of  the  vocal  sound  "  rose."  Action 
of  this  kind  would  be  independent  of  any  psychical 
influence,  the  word  would  possess  no  more  meaning 
than  the  sound  made  by  a  parrot  who  had  been  taught 
to  repeat  the  word  "  rose." 

As  the  child  grows  older  the  cortical  psychical  ele- 
ments of  his  cerebrum  become  more  fully  developed,  and 
he  then  begins  to  comprehend  the  meaning  of  the  words 
of  which  he  makes  use.  Sensations  excited  by  sounds 
such  as  the  word  "  rose,"  pass  from  his  ears  to  corre- 
sponding auditory  nervous  centres,  and  become  there 
registered  in  the  form  of  ideas  or  the  mental  images 
of  this  word.  If  this  nervous  matter  is  stimulated  by 
energy  derived  from  auditory  impulses  similar  to  those" 
which  produced  the  impression  or  from  other  sources, 
a  part  of  its  working  power  is  released  and  passes 
to  the  motor  nervous  centres  in  which  the  word 
"  rose "  exists.  By  constant  practice  a  system  of 
this  kind  comes  to  act  with  unfailing  precision, 
provided  its  living  matter  is  in  working  order, 
and  it  possesses  a  constant  supply  of  potential 
energy. 

By  processes  such  as  those  to  which  we  have  briefly 
referred  we  seem  to  comprehend  how  the  ideas  of 
form,  colour,  and  odour  become  associated  and  em- 
bodied in  the  word  "  rose,"  which  we  are  enabled  to 


BY   PSYCHICAL   MATTER  149 

employ  either  in  silent  or  articulate  speech.  Language 
thus  becomes  the  most  powerful  instrument  for  the 
development  of  thought,  serving  by  means  of  the 
association  of  ideas  to  represent  the  object  or  fact 
described. 

We  base  these  conclusions,  as  we  have  elsewhere 
stated,  on  the  fact  that  if  definite  areas  of  a  human 
being's  sensori-motor  centre  are  destroyed,  such  a  person 
may  continue  to  hear  and  understand  the  meaning  of 
words,  and  may  be  able  to  answer  questions  by  writing 
his  reply  on  paper  or  on  .a  slate,  but  he  has  lost  the 
power  of  articulation,  although  he  may  be  able  to  hear 
and  to  think.  If  a  dog,  while  under  the  influence  of 
an  antesthetic,  has  the  sensori-motor  area  of  his  cerebral 
cortex  stimulated  which  controls  the  action  of  his 
vocal  apparatus,  the  animal  barks,  that  is,  utters  a 
sound  which  he  has  learnt  from  hearing  other  dogs 
bark. 

If  a  definite  part  of  the  auditory  cortical  nervous 
matter  of  the  cerebral  hemispheres  is  destroyed  the 
individual  may  still  be  able  to  hear  word  sounds,  but 
he  has  lost  the  power  of  comprehending  their  meaning, 
a  specialised  psychical  portion  of  the  auditory  centres 
having  been  abolished.  Under  these  conditions 
word  sounds  passing  through  the  individual's  ears 
do  not  produce  mental  memorial  images  of  the 
words  he  may  hear  ;  nor  can  this  power  be  restored 
because  the  psychical  nervous  matter  on  which 
sensations  produce  the  image  of  word  sounds  no 
longer  exists. 

If  an  individual  is  born  deaf  and  blind  his  brain 
may  be  well  developed,  and  its  various  parts  capable 
of  performing  their  functions,  but  visual  or  auditory 


150  THE   ASSOCIATION   AREAS 

energy  cannot  pass  in  its  natural  form  to  the  corre- 
sponding cortical  nervous  centres — mental,  visual  and 
auditory  ideas  cannot  therefore  be  formed,  and  the 
individual  is  unable  to  learn  to  speak,  unless  these 
nervous  centres  can  be  brought  into  play  through 
sensations  passing  to  them  from  other  sensory  organs. 
Such  paths  as  we  have  explained  may  be  opened  up  by 
means  of  the  efficient  training  of  the  tactile  and 
kinaesthetic  sense  organs.1 

The  association  areas  of  the  human  brain  are 
divided  into  three  principal  fields  (Fig.  15,  p.  131). 

The  Anterior  Psychical  or  Association  field  is  located 
in  the  frontal  lobe  of  the  brain  ;  its  nervous  matter  is 
brought  into  close  relation  with  that  of  the  basal 
ganglia  and  motor  centres  of  the  cerebral  cortex. 
Bundles  of  fibres  likewise  bring  this  field  of  nervous 
matter  into  relation  with  the  visual  auditory  and 
other  centres ;  the  functions  performed  by  its  nervous 
matter  is  directly  related  to  the  grade  of  self-con- 
trol exercised  by  individuals,  and  collectively  by  the 
order  of  men  to  which  they  belong.  The  full  apprecia- 
tion of  the  self  in  relation  to  those  by  whom  we  are 
surrounded,  has  probably  been  the  last  and  highest 
factor  in  the  development  of  individual  social  conduct, 
and  is  'as  yet  only  dimly  recognised  by  the  numbers 
of  human  beings  who  are  apt  to  pride  themselves  on 
their  high  standard  of  civilisation. 

Disease  or  injury  of  the  anterior  psychical  field  is 
in  man  often  attended  with  loss  of  appreciation  of 
individual  personality,  and  of  the  value  of  things 
to  him  necessary  for  moral  and  aesthetic  judgment ; 
uncertainty  of  action  and  lack  of  will  are  common  in 

1  "Human  Speech,"  chap.  xiii. 


OF  THE   CEREBRUM  151 

such  people.  Their  self-control  suffers,  and  under  the 
influence  of  excitement  their  conduct  often  becomes 
immoral  or  even  criminal.1 

The  Middle  Psychical  field  coincides  with  that  portion 
of  the  cerebrum  known  as  the  Island  of  Eeil,  and  is 
situated  between  the  auditory  sensory  area  and  that 
of  Broca's  centre  for  speech.  We  have  already 
referred  to  the  functions  performed  by  the  nervous 
living  substance  of  these  cortical  centres  and  their 
association  areas,  so  that  we  need  not  recur  to  the 
subject  in  this  part  of  our  work.2 

The  Posterior  Psychical  field  is  located  in  the  parieto- 
temporal  region  of  the  cerebrum  ;  its  functions  "  are  to 
construct  external  objects  from  the  several  kinds  of 
sensory  impressions,  and  to  form  ideas  concerning  the 
relation  of  objects  and  psychic  processes  to  one  another 
and  to  the  self.  In  a  word,  the  objective  relation  of 
the  individual  and  all  those  processes  which  we 
commonly  call  '  intellectual.'  "  3 

While  we  fully  appreciate  the  fact  that  a  human 
being  possesses  a  far  more  extensive  and  complex 
cerebral  cortex,  as  compared  with  the  other  parts  of 
his  nervous  system,  than  any  other  animal,  and  has 
therefore  at  his  command  a  high  order  of  mental 
capacity,  we  nevertheless  hold,  that  as  in  the  lower 
classes  of  beings,  his  instinctive,  emotional,  mimetic, 
and  other  hereditary  characters  are  the  result  of  work 
performed  by  the  nervous  matter  of  the  basal  ganglia 
and  their  extension  into  the  inner  granular  layer  of 
the  cerebral  cortex. 

1  Johnston,  p.  352,  "  The  Nervous  System  of  Vertebrates." 

2  "  Human  Speech,"  pp.  196-201. 

3  Johnston,  352. 


152  INHERITED   CHARACTERS 

Mr  E.  H.  Lock  in  his  recent  work  on  Heredity 
and  Evolution,  when  discussing  Sir  Francis  Galton's 
ideas  regarding  the  science  of  Eugenics  observes,  that 
you  may  educate  generation  after  generation,  and 
yet  the  starting-point  from  which  each  individual  has 
to  begin  his  struggle  upwards  may  remain  the  same, 
even  though  each  may  struggle  a  little  further  than 
the  one  who  came  before  him.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
have  all  of  us  met  happy  people  to  whom  it  seemed 
second  nature  to  do  the  right  thing,  and  for  whom  the 
difficulties  of  life  appear  to  have  no  menace.  These 
qualities  are  those  of  nature  and  not  of  nurture,  and 
their  children  inherit  them  (the  italics  are  our 
own).  Important  as  education,  sanitation,  and  the 
like  may  be,  their  effects  are  strictly  limited.1 

Men,  notwithstanding  their  mental  capacities,  are 
animals,  they  still  possess  instinctive  and  hereditary 
characters,  which  because  they  are  inherited  are  more 
difficult  to  influence  than  their  acquired  intellectual 
attainments,  the  latter  are  comparatively  unstable  and 
pass  away  with  the  life  of  the  individual,  but  the 
hereditary  characters  continue  in  operation  and  to  a 
large  extent  influence  the  actions  of  individuals 
throughout  their  lives. 

In  the  second  part  of  this  work  we  endeavour  to 
employ  the  teaching  of  biology  as  a  means  of  throwing 
light  on  historical  science,  and  thus  to  ascertain  how 
far  it  is  possible  to  trace  the  existence,  and  the 
influence  which  hereditary  character  has  had  in  mould- 
ing the  destinies  of  individuals  and  of  the  race  to 

1  "  Recent  Progress  in  the  Study  of  Variations,  Heredity  and 
Evolution,"  by  Robert  Heath  Lock,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Gonville  and 
Caius  College,  Cambridge,  Second  Edition,  pp.  287,  288. 


INHERITED   CHARACTERS  153 

which  they  belong.  It  seems  however,  desirable  before 
considering  the  historical  evidence  bearing  on  this 
subject,  to  summarise  the  facts  and  conclusions  we 
have  arrived  at  biologically,  regarding  the  nature  and 
evolution  of  the  living  matter  out  of  which  our 
hereditary  and  mental  capacities  are  elaborated. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

SUMMARY  AND  CONCLUSIONS 

IN  a  previous  volume  of  the  International  Scientific 
Series  we  described  the  nature  and  functions  performed 
by  those  parts  of  the  living  matter  of  our  bodies  by 
means  of  which  we  gain  ideas  concerning  the  external 
world,  and  are  enabled  to  formulate  and  to  express  our 
thoughts  in  intelligent  speech.  The  lines  we  followed 
in  this  investigation  led  us,  in  the  first  place,  to  con- 
sider the  fundamental  properties  possessed  by  living 
matter,  and  then,  by  the  aid  of  comparative  biology, 
to  explain  the  higher  functions  performed  by  the 
nervous  matter  of  the  brain  culminating  in  human 
speech. 

In  the  preceding  chapters  of  the  present  work  we 
have  endeavoured  to  establish  the  fact,  that  action  ex- 
cited in  living  protoplasm  by  various  modes  of  energy  is 
transmuted  by  certain  of  its  elements  into  movements 
adapted  to  promote  the  well-being  of  the  organism. 
We  term  the  elements  constituting  this  kind  of  matter 
"  purposive,"  and  show  they  are  sufficient  to  effect  all 
the  movements  necessary  to  maintain  the  existence  of 
the  lower  classes  of  beings.  But  as  in  the  as- 
cending orders  of  animals  the  structures  entering 
into  the  formation  of  their  bodies  become  more 
complicated  under  the  action  of  the  environment,  so 
the  purposive  elements  which  direct  their  movements 

154 


SUMMARY   AND   CONCLUSIONS  155 

undergo  a  corresponding  evolution,  and  become 
developed  into  matter  possessing  instinctive,  and  finally 
psychical  functions.  The  details  on  which  our  conclu- 
sions are  based  necessitated  the  use  of  technical  terms 
with  which  persons  who  have  not  studied  the  science 
of  biology  are  unfamiliar.  We  have  therefore  thought 
it  advisable  to  summarise  in  as  clear  and  concise 
language  as  we  can  command,  the  evidence  and 
the  main  line  of  argument  we  have  employed  in  this 
and  in  our  previous  volume  ;  hoping  thus  to  make 
clear  our  meaning  to  those  who  may  perhaps  have 
had  some  difficulty  in  following  our  line  of  reasoning. 

The  physical  basis  of  life,  or  protoplasm,  is  made  up 
of  a  semi-liquid  jelly-like  or  colloidal  substance,  a  form 
of  matter  known  as  protein,  with  the  addition  of  a 
small  percentage  of  sulphur,  phosphorus  and  iron. 
Professor  B.  Moore  states  that  we  are  unable  to  com- 
bine the  elements  forming  these  substances  into  any 
of  the  proteins  of  the  cells  or  body  fluids,  and  still 
less  to  build  them  up  into  living  protoplasm,  but  we 
have  obtained  much  insight  as  to  the  general  character 
of  the  constitution  of  proteins,  and  the  main  plan 
upon  which  details  are  still  to  be  worked  out  lies 
before  us.1 

The  proteids  or  albumenous  substances  form  an 
extensive  group,  the  different  members  of  which  it  is 
believed  vary  to  a  large  extent  through  means  of  altera- 
tions in  trie  structural  arrangement  of  their  component 
elements.  To  illustrate  this  point  we  refer  to  the 
diversity  of  properties  exhibited  by  two  chemical  com- 
pounds resulting  from  alterations  in  the  relation  to 

1  "  Further  Advances  in  Physiology,"  edited    by  Leonard  Hill, 
p.  6. 


156  THE   NATURE   OF 

one  another  of  their  elements.  For  example,  the 
molecules  of  the  two  compounds  known  as  Benzonitrile 
and  Phenylisocyanide,  each  contain  seven  atoms  of 
carbon,  five  of  hydrogen,  and  one  of  nitrogen,  but  on 
account  of  a  slight  difference  in  the  arrangementof 
their  atoms,  one  of  them  is  a  harmless  aromatic 
fluid  while  the  other  is  a  stinking  poison.  In  like 
manner  we  assume  that  the  different  kinds  of  living 
protoplasm  such  as  that  which  forms  the  basis  sub- 
stance of  the  various  animal  structures,  while  chemically 
identical,  possess  varied  physiological  properties,  that 
those  material  processes  that  properly  belong  to  living 
matter.  It  is  not  so  much  the  nature  of  the  con- 
stituent elements,  as  the  way  these  elements  are 
arranged,  which  effects  differences  in  the  kind  of  work 
they  perform. 

The  bodies  of  unicellular  and  of  multicellular 
beings  consist  of  minute  particles  of  protoplasm  or 
cells,  which,  with  the  exception  of  the  simplest 
forms,  contain  one  or  more  vesicular  bodies  or 
nuclei ;  and  as  a  rule  nucleoli,  centrosomes  and  so 
on  (Fig.  18).  The  nucleus  of  the  cell  is  enclosed  in 
a  membrane  during  the  greater  part  of  its  existence  ; 
the  substance  of  the  nucleus  being  formed  of  a 
nieshwork  of  differentiated  protoplasm  or  linin,  holding 
in  its  meshes  granules  of  a  substance  known  as 
Chromatin  which  many  biologists  consider  constitutes 
the  basis  substance  of  hereditary  characters.  But  as 
we  have  explained,  the  bacteria  and  lower  algas,  which 
form  vast  and  most  important  classes  of  beings  do  not 
possess  either  a  nucleus  or  fully  formed  chromatiu, 
nevertheless  they  constitute  the  most  numerous  and 
prolific  classes  of  beings  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 


LIVING   PROTOPLASM 


157 


Under  the  microscope  the  jelly-like  protoplasm  of 
a  dead  cell  appears  to  be  formed  of  a  network  of 
granular  fibrillse  ;  but  the  details  of  the  structure  of 
living  protoplasm  is  not  so  obvious  ;  and  any  attempt 
to  gain  an  insight  into  the  mode  of  its  physiological 
activities  from  its  apparent  structure  is  useless.  We 
must  seek  the  source  of  these  activities  in  its  ultra 


cerilrosome. 


-microsom.es, 


Ivacuolef 


FIG.  18.— Diagram  of  a  cell. 

microscopic  organisation,  accepting  the  fact,  that  what 
appears  to  be  an  homogeneous  substance  is  a  complex 
mixture  of  elements,  which  within  certain  limits, 
undergo  structural  re-arrangement  through  the  action 
of  various  forces.  Modifications  of  the  structural 
arrangement  of  the  elements  of  living  matter  thus 
induced  are  accompanied  by  modifications  in  its 
functions,  which  in  the  course  of  time  become 
hereditary  characters. 


158  THE   NATURE    OF 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  the  changes  in  form 
and  function  of  living  protoplasm  such  as  those  to 
which  we  have  referred,  are  attributable  to  the  great 
size  and  complexity  of  its  proteid  molecules.1  Each 
of  these  molecules  are  supposed  to  contain  from  ten 
to  thirty  thousand  atoms,  whereas  the  most  complex 
molecule  known  to  the  organic  chemist  consists  of 
less  than  a  hundred  atoms.  The  units  or  cells  of 
animals  are  built  up  of  these  large  proteid  molecules. 
The  biogen  or  chemical  unit  of  living  matter  is 
not  a  fixed  unit  like  the  molecule  of  dead  proteid, 
it  maintains  itself  in  virtue  of  a  continual  flux  of 
matter  and  energy.2  It  is  necessary  to  appreciate 
this  fact  in  order  that  we  should  be  prepared  to  accept 
the  otherwise  almost  incomprehensible  nature  of  the 
work  which  is  performed  by  the  living  substance  of  the 
various  parts  of  the  central  nervous  system,  especially 
in  the  higher  classes  of  animals.3 

1  Professor  M'Kendrick  refers  to  figures  which  may  perhaps  assist  us 
to  realise  to  some  extent  the  magnitude  and  complex  nature  of  the 
elements  which  form  animal  cells.     He  finds  that  a  human  female 
germ  cell  or  gamete  measures  about  ^  mm.  in  diameter,  and  the 
male  gamete  or  spermatic  cell  about  ^^  mm.     Professor  M'Kendrick 
states    that    when    the    male    cell    combines    with    the    female    cell 
this    fertilised    cell    would,   according    to    his    calculations,    contain 
20,000,000,000,000  proteid  molecules,  one  half  of  which  consist  of 
water.     He  considers  this  number  of  organic  molecules  sufficient 
to  account  for  the  transmission  of  hereditary  peculiarities,  and  for 
the  development  of  all  parts  of  a  highly  complicated  organism. 

2  Science  Progress,  No.  2,  pp.  197,  198. 

3  From  a  study  of  the  simplest  forms  of  plants  and  animals  we  arrive 
at  the  conclusion  that  their  living  protoplasm  exhibits  the  same 
fundamental  processes  and  have  therefore  presumably  been  derived 
from  a  common  ancestral  form  of  matter.     Their  protoplasm  could 
not  have  arisen  ex  nihilo,  or  out  of  something  entirely  different  from 
itself,  and  as  we  do  not  meet  outside  living  organisms  with  matter 
presenting  a  like  combination  of  phenomena  to  that  manifested  by 


LIVING  PROTOPLASM  159 

The  theory  which  seems  to  us  best  adapted  to 
explain  the  phenomena  presented  by  living  matter, 
assumes  that  it  consists  of  a  specific  numerical  and 
structural  arrangement  of  elements,  which  act  as  a 
transformer  of  non-vital  into  biotic  or  living  energy. 
The  result  of  this  action  becomes  manifest  in  certain 
phenomena  which  collectively  we  call  life.  Life, 
therefore,  is  the  result  of  chemical  and  other  modes 
of  energy  acting  on  a  specific  form  of  matter.1 

By  a  transformer  of  energy  we  mean  a  substance 
which  through  means  of  the  structural  arrangement 
of  its  constituent  elements,  is  specially  adapted  for 
promoting  certain  energy  exchanges.  Thus  some 
energy  transformers  possess  only  the  property  shared 
by  all  forms  of  matter  of  acting  as  general  transformers, 
although  varying  in  degree,  while  in  others  the  property 
is  specific,  and  associated  with  some  special  arrange- 
ment of  matter.  Thus  the  metals  possess  electrical 
conductivity,  and  in  inverse  proportion  act  as  trans- 
formers for  the  conversion  of  electrical  energy  into 
heat  energy.  The  chlorophyll  of  green  plants,  on  the 
other  hand,  has  specific  powers  of  converting  light 
into  chemical  and  thus  acts  as  a  peculiar  energy- 
transformer.  Again,  the  soluble  ferments  or  enzymes 
consist  of  chemical  substances  secreted  by  living 
protoplasm,  which  may  be  extracted  from  the  cells 
in  which  they  have  been  formed,  as  for  instance  the 
pepsine  of  the  gastric  juice.  In  their  capacity  as 

living  matter,  we  conclude,  therefore,  that  this  substance  consists 
of  a  peculiar  structural  arrangement  of  elements  proceeding  from  a 
common  and  simpler  combination  of  atoms. 

1  Professsor  B.  Moore,  "  Recent  Advances  in  Physiology  and  Bio- 
Chemistry,"  edited  by  Dr  Leonard  Hill,  p.  135. 


160  FUNCTIONS   OF 

energy  transformers  they  break  up  complex  albumenous 
products  into  simpler  substances,  and  thus  prepare 
them  for  digestion.  They  effect  this  change  by  their 
presence  alone,  without  appearing  in  the  final  product 
of  the  action.  We  have  come  also  to  learn  that  some 
enzymes  possess  the  power  of  rebuilding  the  molecules 
others  have  broken  down  ;  by  processes  of  this  order 
an  extract  of  almonds  (amygdaline)  may  be  broken  up 
into  compounds,  which  another  ferment  will  put 
together  again  and  so  reconstruct  the  original 
compound. 

The  living  protoplasm  of  animal  cells  when  placed 
in  favourable  conditions  appropriates  the  elements 
prepared  by  enzymes  to  replace  its  worn-out  materials, 
these  latter  products  in  conjunction  with  those  left 
by  the  enzymes  after  completing  their  work,  are 
broken  up  by  the  free  oxygen  of  the  cell  aided  by 
the  action  of  its  living  matter,  and  are  converted 
ultimately  into  carbonic  acid,  water,  and  heat,  and  so 
pass  away  from  the  cell.  Processes  of  this  description 
release  a  considerable  amount  of  energy  which  con- 
stitutes a  supply  of  potential  working  power  to  the 
living  matter  of  the  cell.  If,  therefore,  the  proto- 
plasm of  the  cell  is  insufficiently  or  imperfectly 
supplied  with  nutrient  matter,  its  potential  energy  or 
working  power  fails ;  on  the  other  hand  if  the 
ordinary  play  of  its  molecules  are  hindered  by  the 
action  of  an  anesthetic  or  other  poison,  its  power  as 
a  transformer  of  energy  is  hindered  and  its  functions 
are  thus  impaired. 

We  laid  stress  on  the  fact  that  all  forms  of  living 
protoplasm,  animal  and  vegetable,  possessed  certain 
fundamental  properties,  and  were  therefore  probably 


LIVING   PROTOPLASM  161 

derived  from  a  common  ancestral  stock.  Among 
these  fundamental  processes,  we  referred  to  the 
metabolism,  reproduction,  respiratory  and  other 
properties,  including  those  of  sensitivity,  as  well  as 
to  its  purposive  action,  and  its  power  of  retaining 
impressions  made  upon  it  by  certain  modes  of  energy. 
Through  means  of  its  irritability,  living  matter 
responds  to  impressions  made  upon  it  by  energy 
derived  from  chemical  and  other  sources, — through 
means  of  its  purposive  elements  the  action  thus 
excited  is  employed  to  promote  the  well-being  of  the 
living  substance, — through  means  of  its  power  to 
register  impressions  made  on  it,  it  comes  to  form  the 
basis  substance  of  memory,  upon  which  the  mental 
powers  of  the  higher  animals,  including  human  beings, 
depend  (p.  65). 

The  meaning  we  attach  to  the  term  purposive 
action  may  be  understood  by  referring  to  the  changes 
which  take  place  in  the  substance  of  some  of  the 
simplest  known  forms  of  organisms.  The  living 
matter  of  a  bacterium  consists  of  what  appears  under 
the  highest  powers  of  the  microscope  to  be  a  minute 
particle  of  homogeneous  protoplasm.  In  response, 
generally  to  unfavourable  conditions  of  the  environ- 
ment, definite  movements  are  excited  in  the  substance 
forming  the  body  of  the  organism,  by  means  of  which 
it  separates  into  germinal  and  somatic  elements. 
The  somatic  substance  nourishes  and  protects  the 
germinal  elements  until  they  are  matured  and  reach 
favourable  conditions  for  their  development,  the 
somatic  matter  then  perishes,  and  from  the  germinal 
substance  a  new  being  is  produced.  The  energy 
required  to  bring  about  changes  of  this  description 
L 


162  PURPOSIVE   MOVEMENTS 

in  the  living  substance  of  a  bacterium  is  derived  from 
various  sources,  but  the  ordering  or  regulating  of  the 
action  thus  brought  into  play,  is  we  conceive, 
accomplished  through  means  of  the  purposive  elements 
of  the  living  matter,  which  are  adapted  to  promote 
the  well-being  of  the  organism  and  of  the  species 
to  which  it  belongs.  It  is  well  to  note  that  action 
of  this  kind  is  common  to  bacteria  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  and  is  at  once  suppressed  by  an  anaesthetic  or 
by  any  conditions  which  interfere  with  the  normal 
metabolic  activity  of  the  living  matter  of  the  cell,  and 
so  of  its  supply  of  potential  or  working  energy. 

Professor  A.  J.  Ewart,  in  his  work  "  On  the  Physics 
and  Physiology  of  Protoplasmic  Streaming  in  Plants," 
has  given  an  admirable  account  of  the  forces  brought 
into  action  in  effecting  movements  of  this  kind  in 
living  matter.  He  states  "  that  a  direct  physical 
explanation  can  however,  hardly  apply  to  organisms 
which  possess  definite  locomotory  organs,  such  as 
fiagella  or  cilia.  It  is  undoubtedly  often  the  case 
that  physical  forces  such  as  surface  tension,  osmosis, 
imbibition  etc.,  when  intense,  may  overpower  the 
organism,  but  there  can  equally  be  no  doubt  that 
the  latter  has  acquired  the  power  of  directing  and 
controlling  these  natural  forces  for  its  own  benefit,  so 
that  a  simple  direct  physical  explanation  can  hardly 
be  postulated  for  phenomena  which  may  be  due  to 
a  multiplicity  of  interacting  factors."  x 

Mr  W.  B.  Hardy,  in  his  paper  on  "  The  Physical  Basis 
of  Life,"  states  that  if  we  watch  the  movements  of  an 
amceba  crawling  amid  sand,  fragments  of  decayed 

1  On  the  Physics  and  Physiology  of  Protoplasmic  Streaming  in 
Plants,  by  A.  J.  Ewart,  p.  112. 


OF   ORGANISMS 


163 


leaves,  and  living  diatoms,  we  notice  that  of  the 
particles  which  it  takes  into  its  substance  some  are 
nutritious  food,  some  are  innutritions  and  absolutely 
useless.  But  there  is  a  decided  balance  in  favour  of  the 
nutritious  particles.  Like  Autolycus,  it  is  a  picker-up 
of  unconsidered  trifles,  guided  by  a  decided  preference 
for  things  useful  to  itself.  "  Therefore,  the  tiny 
animal  manifests  discrimina- 
tion, imperfect  no  doubt,  but 
clearly  recognisable.  And 
the  choice  is  beneficial, 
it  contains  an  element  of 
purpose." l 

In  the  year  1878,  Pro- 
fessor Strasburger  described 
the  movements  made  by  the 
zoospores  (motile  spores)  of 
Ulothrix  (Fig.  19),  and  other 
algae,  and  showed  that  their 
power  of  locomotion  resulted 
from  various  external  forces 
acting  on  their  irritable  living 
protoplasm. 

Professor  J.  Loeb  holds  that  movements  such  as 
those  to  which  we  have  referred  in  the  lower  algae,  not 
only  occur  in  animal  organisms  but  are  referable  to 
the  same  causes  or  tropisms.  He  believes  these 
movements  depend,  first,-  upon  the  specific  irritability 
of  certain  elements  of  the  body  surface,  and  secondly, 
upon  the  relations  of  symmetry  of  the  body.  In 
his  opinion  symmetrical  elements  at  the  surface  of 

1  "  The  Physical  Basis  of  Life,"  by  W  B.  Hardy,  Science  Progress, 
October  1906,  p.  182. 


19.— B,  Fully  developed 
spore  of  Ulothrix.  a,  small  spore 
with  two  cilia;  6,  small  spores 
uniting  to  form  a  fertile  being. 


164  MECHANICAL   MOVEMENTS 

the  body  have  the  same  irritability,  unsymmetrical 
elements  have  a  different  irritability.  Those  nearer 
the  oral  pole  or  anterior  end  of  a  being  possess  an 
irritability  greater  than  that  of  those  near  the  opposite 
pole.  These  conditions  force  an  animal  to  place 
itself  towards  a  source  of  stimulation  or  away  from  it. 
Professor  Loeb  rightly  maintains  that  these  move- 
ments in  the  lower  forms  of  plants  and  animals  are 
identical  in  their  nature,  as  we  assume,  because  the 
fundamental  properties  possessed  by  animal  and 
vegetable  protoplasm  are  identical,  both  having  in  all 
probability  arisen  out  of  a  common  simpler  ancestral 
stock. 

Professor  Loeb,  in  order  to  illustrate  the  principle 
he  advocates,  refers  to  the  movements  of  a  moth  in  the 
presence  of  a  lighted  lamp.  He  states  that  if  the 
insect  be  struck  by  the  light  of  the  lamp  on  one  side  of 
its  body,  those  muscles  which  turn  the  head  towards 
the  light  become  more  active  than  those  of  the  opposite 
side,  and  correspondingly  the  head  of  the  animal  is 
turned  towards  the  light.  As  soon  as  the  head  of  the 
animal  assumes  this  direction  and  the  median-plane 
(or  plane  of  symmetry)  comes  into  the  direction  of  the 
rays  of  light,  the  symmetrical  points  of  the  surface  of 
the  body  are  struck  by  the  rays  of  light  at  the  same 
angle  ;  and  the  animal  is  rapidly  drawn  into  the  flame 
of  the  lamp.  This  action,  Loeb  remarks,  is  "  nothing 
more  than  the  chemical  and  indirectly  the  mechanical 
effect  of  the  light,  an  effect  similar  to  that  which 
forces  the  stem  of  the  plant  at  the  window  to  bend 
towards  the  source  of  light."  Again,  this  author  states 
that  the  same  cause  which  prescribes  the  course  of  a 
falling  stone  or  determines  the  orbit  of  planets,  namely, 


OF   ORGANISMS  165 

gravitation,  determines  also  the  path  which  a  butterfly 
follows  that  has  just  emerged  from  the  pupa  case. 
The  geotropic  irritability  is  at  this  time  especially 
strong ;  the  newly-hatched  animal  remains  restless 
and  is  compelled  to  run  about  until  it  comes  to  a 
vertical  wall,  on  which  it  can  put  the  longitudinal 
axis  of  its  body  vertically,  its  head  upwards.  Here  it 
remains  quietly  until  its  wings  are  unfolded.1 

Dr  Georges  Bohn  is  a  recent  and  strenuous  advocate 
of  Professor  Loeb's  ideas.  With  reference  to  Lamarck's 
views  concerning  the  movements  of  the  inferior 
animals  being  due  to  external  causes,  such  as  the 
action  of  the  environment,  of  light,  and  so  on,  Dr 
Bohn  states  that  action  of  this  kind,  or  Tropisms, 
result  from  the  attraction  of  living  beings  to  exterior 
forces  which  they  are  unable  to  resist  :  he,  however, 
holds  that  as  tropism  alone  cannot  insure  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  life  of  the  animal,  other  modes  of  acting 
are  necessarily  associated  with  it,  and  probably  take 
predominance.  Among  these  modes  of  action  he 
describes  "  sensibility  differentidle "  as  being  of  great 
importance ;  he  uses  this  term  to  express  variations  in 
the  environmental  agents  as  causes  of  reaction.2  For 
instance,  if  a  cloud  passes  between  the  sun  and  a 
number  of  organisms  placed  in  a  basin  of  water,  the 
organisms  turn  round  actively,  and  then  take  up 
their  original  position.  He  holds  it  is  through  their 
power  of  differential  sensibility  that  the  lower  animals 

1  "   Comparative    Physiology    of    the    Brain    and     Comparative 
Psychology,"  by  J.  Loeb,  M.D.;  also  "  Studies  in  General  Physiology," 
by  J.  Loeb,  Professor  of  Physiology  in  the  University  of  California, 
vol.  i.  pp.  37,  112.     Chicago  :   The  University  Press,  1905. 

2  The,  American  Naturalist,  vol.  xliii.,  p.  624,  Article  by  Professor 
H.  S.  Jennings. 


166  PURPOSIVE   ELEMENTS 

avoid  noxious  or  harmful  movements.  We  must 
however  refer  the  reader  to  Dr  Bonn's  work  in  order 
to  become  fully  conversant  with  his  views  on  the 
subject  we  have  referred  to,  and  on  tropisms  in 
general.1 

We  consider  that  movements  such  as  those  above 
alluded  to,  are  directed  by  energy  derived  from  the 
purposive  elements  of  the  organism ;  a  form  of  energy 
which  controls  the  movements  of  the  contractile  ele- 
ments of  the  living  substance.  Our  difficulty  in 
completely  establishing  this  theory  consists  in  our 
inability  to  place  our  finger  on  purposive  and  instinctive 
elements,  so  as  to  separate  them  from  other  forms  of 
living  matter  ;  as  this  is  impossible,  we  can  only  judge 
the  qualities  and  potentialities  of  this  matter  by 
observing  the  phenomena  it  is  capable  of  producing  in 
living  beings. 

It  appears  that  in  the  simplest  forms  of  unicellular 
animals  purposive  elements  are  disseminated  through- 
out the  protoplasm  of  their  body  substance,  being 
however  most  pronounced  in  the  outer  layer  of 
living  matter.  Thus  in  a  volvox,  stimuli  applied  to 
its  cilia  excites  a  reaction  in  its  protoplasm  and 
releases  a  portion  of  its  potential  energy,  which 
acting  on  purposive  elements,  becomes  manifest  in 
the  movements  of  the  cilia ;  their  action  is  rythmical, 
because  when  a  discharge  of  potential  energy  has 
taken  place  from  the  protoplasm,  a  pause  is  necessary 
to  enable  the  living  substance  to  become  recharged 
with  working  power  (Fig.  20). 

In  the  Porifera,  and  in  the  polyps  (Hydroids), 
among  the  Coelentera  we  find  that  a  differentiation  of 

1  "  La  Nassiance  de  1'Intelligence,"  par  Dr  G.  Bohn,  p.  26. 


THEIR   DIFFERENTIATION 


167 


the  purposive  elements  of  the  protoplasm  has  taken 
place.  From  the  sensory  living  matter  of  the  external 
surface  of  their  bodies  and  tentacles  disseminated 
ganglionic  nerve  cells  are  formed,  the  living  elements 
of  these  cells,  among  other  functions,  direct  a  certain 
portion  of  their  potential  energy  into  purposive  action, 
so  that  the  animal's  contractile  fibres  or  muscle- 
cells  are  brought  into 
play.  Action  of  this 
kind  would  appear  to 
be  an  amplification  of 
that  which  brings  the 
cilia  of  a  volvox  into 
operation. 

In  jelly-fishes 
(Medusoids)  the  nerve- 
cells  form  a  chain 
passing  round  the 
margin  of  the  bell, 
which  on  the  one  hand 
receive  impressions 

unrip  nn  thpm  tVirnno-h     &•  Wilso".  "The  Cell  in   Development  and 
On  tnem  tniOUgn     inheritance,"  p.  123.) 

the     various     sensory 

organs,  and  on  the  other  hand  transform  this  energy 
into  force,  which  passes  to  the  animal's  muscular 
apparatus  and  bring  it  into  co-ordinate  purposive 
action,  thus  giving  us  the  first  inkling  of  a  central 
nervous  system. 

In  the  next  higher  class  of  animals  (Echinodermata), 
which  include  star-fishes,  the  ganglionic  nerve- cells 
have  become  aggregated  into  a  central  nervous  organ 
which  forms  a  circumaxial  ring  with  radial  cords  of 
nervous  matter  passing  outwards  to  supply  the  muscles 


FIG.  20.— Volvox  showing  the  small  ciliated 
somatic  cells  and  seven  large  germ  cells. 
(Drawn  from  life  by  J.  H.  Emerton.  See  E. 


168  THE   EVOLUTION    OF 

of  the  animal's  limbs  with  motor  impulses,  and  to 
receive  impressions  passing  from  the  various  sensory 
organs  to  the  central  nervous  organ.  The  action  of 
the  purposive  elements  of  the  central  nervous  system 
of  these  animals  is  conspicuous  in  the  efforts  they 
make  to  assume  their  natural  position  when  they  have 
been  turned  over  on  their  dorsal  surface,  and  in  their 
action  in  getting  rid  of  a  harmful  source  of  irritation, 
which  extends  so  far  as  to  cause  them  to  cast  off 
an  offending  limb  ;  which  however  is  soon  regenerated 
(p.  49). 

In  the  worms  (Annelida)  there  is  a  more  complete 
co-ordination  of  the  brain  than  in  the  Medusoids,  a 
nervous  system  capable  of  initiating  actions.  The 
central  nervous  system  has  assumed  a  bilateral 
symmetrical  form  ;  it  consists  typically  of  a  pair 
of  prseoral  (cerebral)  ganglia  situated  in  front  of 
the  mouth,  and  of  a  series  of  post-oral  ganglia, 
arranged  segmentally  in  pairs  along  the  ventral  mid- 
line  of  the  body,  and  united  together  by  transverse 
commissures  and  longitudinal  connections 1  (Fig.  1 0, 
p.  40).  In  this  class  are  included  the  lug- worm 
and  sea-mouse,  to  which  we  have  referred  as  possess- 
ing a  more  complicated  central  nervous  system  than 
those  of  the  lower  classes  of  animals.  In  some 
members  of  this  class  of  beings,  such  as  the  poly- 
chseta,  definite  cephalic  sensory  organs  are  de- 
veloped from  the  outer  sensitive  layer  of  living 
matter  of  their  bodies,  and  from  these  sensory  organs 
nerve  fibres  pass  to  ganglionic  cells  located  in  the 
animal's  brain.  Like  other  structures  these  aggrega- 

1  Mr   R.  H.   Burne,  Phys.  Series,  Roy.  Coll.  Surgeons   Cat.    vol. 
ii.  p.  5. 


PURPOSIVE    ELEMENTS  169 

tions  of  cerebral  nervous  matter  increase  in  dimension, 
and  in  perfection  of  function,  in  proportion  to  the 
extent  and  kind  of  energy  which  is  brought  to  bear 
upon  them  through  means  of  their  corresponding 
sensory  organs. 

As  regards  the  Arthropodia,  we  referred  to  the 
nervous  system  of  the  cray-fish  and  of  ants  and  bees, 
and  dwelt  on  the  fact  that  as  the  cephalic  sensory 
organs  became  more  highly  developed,  a  reciprocal 
increase  could  be  traced  in  the  amount  and  complexity 
of  their  central  nervous  system. 

The  cray-fish  remains  at  the  mouth  of  its  burrow, 
barring  the  entrance  by  means  of  its  protruding  head 
and  long  antennae.  In  this  position  the  animal  is 
able  to  feel,  and  to  see  the  various  objects  passing 
within  reach  of  its  claws,  with  which  it  seizes  its  food. 
In  order  to  form  an  idea  of  the  processes  which  enable 
a  cray-fish  to  initiate  and  carry  on  a  series  of  move- 
ments such  as  those  we  have  mentioned,  it  is  necessary, 
in  the  first  place,  to  bear  in  mind  the  fundamental 
qualities  possessed  by  living  matter,  and  then,  that 
the  existing  species  of  cray-fish  are  derived  from  a 
line  of  ancestors  extending  over  long  periods  of  time, 
and  that  in  far  distant  ages  this  order  of  animals 
was  probably  gradually  developed  from  simpler 
forms  of  beings.  In  each  stage  of  their  evolution  the 
living  substance  forming  this  order  of  animals  must 
have  become  adapted  to  changes  imposed  on  it  by 
variations  of  climate,  and  other  conditions  to  which  it 
had  been  exposed,  otherwise  the  species  would  have 
ceased  to  exist. 

The  hard  external  covering  of  the  head  and  body 
of  the  Crustacea  however,  renders  the  result  of 


170  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

experiments  on  their  brains  unsatisfactory,  and  the 
central  nervous  system  of  ants  and  bees  are  so  small 
that  to  remove  definite  parts  of  them  during  life,  so 
as  to  watch  the  results  produced  on  the  animal's 
movements,  is  wellnigh  impracticable.  It  is  therefore 
desirable  to  consider  the  conditions  under  which  these 
instinctive  processes  are  effected  by  certain  of  the 
cartilaginous  fishes,  that  is,  by  animals  forming  the 
lowest  class  of  vertebrates.1 

The  vertebrates,  as  is  well  known,  are  characterised 
by  the  presence  of  a  cord  of  nervous  matter  extending 
along  the  length  of  their  bodies  (spinal  cord)  which 
is  enclosed  in  a  canal  formed  of  either  cartilage  or  of 
a  number  of  bones  (vertebras),  and  of  a  brain  which  is 
a  continuation  upwards  of  the  spinal  cord,  and  is  en- 
closed by  the  skull  (Fig.  14,  p.  1 1 1).  This  sub-kingdom 
of  animals  is  divided  into  a  number  of  classes,  orders, 
and  species.  Without  exception,  from  the  lowest 
cartilaginous  fishes,  up  to  human  beings,  their  brains 
are  in  part  formed  by  four  masses  of  nervous  matter, 
known  collectively  as  the  basal  ganglia  (the  right 
and  left  optic  thalami  and  corpora  striata). 

In  the  three  lower  classes  of  animals  the  elements 
contained  in  the  nerve-cells  of  the  basal  ganglia 
constitute  the  central  receiving  station  for  energy 
passing  from  the  visual,  auditory  and  tactile  sense 
organs.  It  is  from  the  substance  of  these  ganglia 
that  the  nervous  energy  which  directs  the  purposive 

1  Instincts,  according  to  our  definition  of  the  term,  consisting  of  a 
chain  of  acts  which  have  become  formed  through  means  of  continual 
repetition  of  the  same  actions  following  on  the  same  stimuli,  so  as  to 
become  finally  fixed  into  the  physiological  organisation.  The  object 
of  these  movements  being  in  the  main  directed  to  the  preservation 
and  reproduction  of  the  species. 


INSTINCTIVE   MATTER  171 

movements  of  the  animal's  body  and  limbs  is 
derived. 

It  is  to  be  specially  noticed  in  the  vast  multitude 
of  beings  which  form  these  three  out  of  the  five 
classes  of  vertebrate  animals,  that  their  brains  do  not 
possess  what  we  term  a  neopallium  or  that  part  of 
the  cerebrum  in  which  psychical  or  intellectual  pro- 
cesses are  elaborated.1  Nevertheless,  fishes,  amphibians 
and  reptiles  exhibit  instinctive  movements,  which  it 
has  been  shown  may,  in  some  of  these  animals,  be 
improved  by  judicious  training  (p.  96).  If  in  the 
classes  of  animals  we  have  referred  to  their  basal 
ganglia  are  destroyed  during  their  lifetime,  the 
creature  so  mutilated  completely  loses  all  instinctive 
and  emotional  powers  ;  it  may,  however,  be  kept  alive 
for  a  time  and  performs  simple  reflex  movements. 
For  instance,  if  the  basal  ganglia  of  a  fish  are  removed, 
the  animal  will  continue  to  swim  about  in  an  aimless, 
sightless  manner,  the  surface  of  its  body  being 
stimulated  by  the  surrounding  water,  and  thereby 
exciting  habitual  reflex  muscular  action  ;  but  the  fish 
fails  to  seek  food  or  to  exercise  any  instinctive 
movements. 

It  is  the  existence  of  emotional  and  instinctive 
movements  in  the  three  lower  classes  of  animals 
when  the  nervous  matter  of  their  basal  ganglia 
are  in  working  order,  and  the  abolition  of  these 
movements  when  these  masses  of  nervous  substance 
are  destroyed,  which  leads  us  to  assume  that  the 
living  matter  through  means  of  which  instinctive  and 

1  Psychical  processes  are  those  which  effect  modifications  of 
motion  through  the  agency  of  intercurrents  of  a  specialised  mode  of 
nervous  energy,  derived  from  mental  images  or  ideas. 


172  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

emotional  actions  are  effected  is  located  in  these 
ganglia. 

The  living  nervous  substance  of  the  basal  ganglia, 
therefore,  in  fishes,  amphibians  and  reptiles,  not  only 
constitutes  the  receiving  and  dispatching  centres  for 
energy  reaching  them  through  the  sensory  organs  ; 
but,  in  addition  between  the  incoming  and  out- 
going energy,  instinctive  elements  are  brought  into 
operation,  and  these  direct  the  motor  elements  into 
co-ordinate  purposive  and  emotional  actions.  The 
perfection  of  the  muscular  movements  thus  brought 
into  play  depends  on  the  living  matter  of  the  nervous 
system  being  adequately  supplied  with  potential  or 
working  power,  on  the  inherent  structural  arrangement 
and  development  of  its  molecules,  lastly  on  the  kind 
of  training  they  have  undergone.  Our  theory  is  that 
the  instinctive  and  emotional  actions  accomplished  by 
the  three  lower  classes  of  animals  cannot  result  from 
psychical  or  intellectual  processes  because  they  do  not 
possess  any  psychical  nor  "  consciousness  matter  ";  they 
have  no  cerebral  cortex  or  neopallium  through  means 
of  which  alone  such  processes  are  elaborated  (see 
p.  107).  The  mode  of  life  of  these  classes  of  animals 
is  such  that  they  do-not  require  the  aid  of  intellectual 
powers,  their  hereditary  instincts  being  sufficient 
to  meet  their  requirements  in  their  struggle  for 
existence. 

We  have  already  described  what  we  mean  by  the 
term  neopallium,  and  attributed  t'he  origin  of  this 
important  part  of  the  brain  to  the  instinctive  elements 
of  the  basal  ganglia  (p.  94).  We  also  discussed  the 
action  of  the  basis  substance  of  memory  in  plants 
and  in  unicellular  organisms.  In  the  higher  classes 


INSTINCTIVE   MATTER  173 

of  animals  the  living  elements  which  constitute 
this  memory  substance  become  differentiated  and 
forms  structures  located  in  definite  areas  of  the 
central  nervous  system.  These  areas  of  nervous 
substance  are  connected  by  protoplasmic  fibres  with 
the  various  sensory  organs  of  the  animal's  head  and 
body.  Stimuli  received  through  these  receptors  of 
energy  when  constantly  repeated  are  registered  in 
the  nervous  matter  of  these  areas,  and  thus  form 
what  we  term  the  sensori-memorial,  visual,  auditory, 
tactile,  and  other  centres.  These  centres  are  sur- 
rounded and  influenced  by  psychical  cortical  matter ; 
they  are  also  intimately  connected  to  one  another  by 
nerve  fibres,  the  whole  constituting  an  extremely 
complex  system. 

The  brains  of  birds  are  remarkably  constant  in  form, 
and  are  distinguished  by  the  great  development  of  the 
basal  ganglia.  The  hemispheres  cover  the  thalamus 
and  optic  lobes,  and  possess  rudimentary  occipital  and 
temporal  lobes  ;  their  outer  layer  contains  two  strata 
of  ganglionic  nerve-cells.  Nerve  fibres  may  be  traced 
from  the  living  matter  of  the  simple  cortical  layer  of 
cells  which  constitute  a  bird's  cerebral  cortex,  to  and 
from  the  nerve-cells  of  the  basal  ganglia,  and  also  to 
the  nuclei  of  the  auditory  nerve  situated  in  the 
medulla  oblongata,  and  onward  to  the  spinal  cord. 
Nerve  fibres  may  also  be  traced  from  the  nervous 
elements  of  the  eyes  of  birds  to  their  cerebral  optic 
lobes  and  from  thence  to  a  certain  area  of  cortical 
nerve-cells  located  in  the  occipital  lobes  ;  if  these 
areas  or  cortical  nervous  centres  are  destroyed,  the 
bird  will  continue  to  see  surrounding  objects,  but  he 
can  no  longer  recognise  what  he  sees ;  he  has  com- 


174  EVOLUTION   OP 

pletely  lost  his  power  of  memory,  that  is,  of  acting  on 
visual  impressions  gained  during  his  lifetime  (see 
"Human  Speech,"  p.  178). 

If  the  outer  surface  of  a  bird's  brain  is  exposed 
during  the  animal's  lifetime,  and  a  weak  electric 
current  applied  to  definite  parts  of  it,  certain  muscles 
of  the  bird's  eyes  are  thrown  into  action,  the  other 
muscles  of  the  head  and  body  remaining  at  rest. 
Nerve  fibres  or  conductors  of  energy  may  be  traced 
from  these  centres  through  the  basal  ganglia  to  the 
nuclei  of  the  nerves  of  the  medulla  and  spinal  cord 
(Fig.  14,  p.  111). 

These  cortical  nervous  centres  are  brought  into 
direct  relation  with  the  various  sensory  organs  by 
means  of  which  they  receive  a  constant  stream  of 
energy  from  the  outer  world,  aud  also  from  muscular 
and  other  forms  of  stimuli ;  some  of  the  elements 
of  these  centres  retain  certain  of  the  impressions 
made  on  them  by  various  forms  of  energy  ;  and  in  this 
way  definite,  visual,  auditory,  and  other  sensori-motor 
memorial  centres  have  become  established  in  the 
substance  of  the  cerebral  cortex  of  these  animals. 

It  is  however  to  be  noticed  that  although  certain 
areas  of  a  bird's  brain  when  stimulated  excite  definite 
groups  of  muscles,  by  far  the  larger  portions  of  the 
cortex  when  stimulated  produces  no  visible  effect  on 
the  muscles  of  the  animal's  head,  face,  or  any  part  of 
its  body.  It  is  in  those  portions  of  the  cerebral  cortex 
which  intervenes  between  the  sensory  and  the  motor 
areas  of  the  brain  of  birds  that  we  have  reason  to 
believe  psychical  processes  are  elaborated.  In  con- 
sequence of  the  rudimentary  nature  of  the  cerebral 
cortex  in  birds  their  psychical  faculties  are  very 


PSYCHIC   MATTER  175 

limited  ;  but  their  instinctive  actions  are  remarkable, 
depending,  as  we  have  shown,  on  the  great  development 
of  the  nervous  substance  of  their  basal  ganglia.  In 
support  of  these  ideas,  it  has  been  shown,  that  if  a 
bird's  cortical  substance  is  removed  during  the  lifetime 
of  the  animal,  the  creature  ceases  to  notice  sounds,  or 
the  sight  of  objects  which  had  attracted  its  attention 
before  its  cerebral  cortex  had  been  destroyed  ;  in  fact, 
birds  thus  mutilated  lose  whatever  consciousness  they 
possess.  But  these  birds,  when  placed  on  the  floor  of 
a  room,  will  fly  up  and  perch  on  the  arm  of  a  chair, 
and  perform  other  instinctive  acts  so  long  as  the 
nervous  substance  of  their  basal  ganglia  remains  in- 
tact (p.  105). 

With  a  nervous  system  of  this  kind  in  working 
order,  it  is  possible  to  conceive  how  a  bird  comes  in 
the  course  of  time  to  repeat  word  sounds  which  have 
been  taught  him.  We  know  that,  in  their  natural 
state,  birds  learn  to  sing,  and  some  of  them  to  repeat 
the  cry  of  various  other  animals.  The  utterance  of 
word  sounds  by  birds  is  acquired  in  like  manner,  and 
probably  means  nothing  more  to  the  bird  than  its 
natural  song,  or  other  sounds  it  has  learnt  to  repeat  ; 
and  which  seem  as  a  rule  directed  to  attract  the 
attention  of  beings  he  has  come  to  recognise.  Thus, 
the  parrot  we  have  referred  to  was  constantly  in  the 
room  with  its  mistress,  who  fed  and  took  the  greatest 
care  of  her  pet.  She  repeated  over  and  over  again,  in 
the  same  tone  of  voice,  short  sentences,  which  after 
the  bird  had  learnt  he  remembered  for  many  years. 

Birds  therefore  possess  the  power  of  receiving 
energy  derived  from  wave-sounds  which  pass  through 
their  ears,  and  in  a  modified  form  reach  their 


176  EVOLUTION   OF 

auditory  sensori-memorial  cortical  centres.  Through 
the  medium  of  the  living  substance  which 
forms  these  centres,  and  the  adjoining  rudimentary 
psychical  matter,  auditory  impulses  are  transmuted 
into  sensations,  and  mental  images  of  the  auditory 
waves  which  produced  the  primary  excitation.  By 
the  frequent  repetition  of  such  modes  of  excitation, 
the  basis  substance  of  memory  is  established  for  a 
particular  mode  of  stimulation,  and  a  combination  of 
such  impressed  nervous  matter  would  form  an  auditory 
sensori-memorial  centre,  the  impressions  it  has  re- 
ceived being  re-excited  by  similar  modes  of  stimuli  to 
those  which  produced  the  impression,  and  also  by  other 
forms  of  energy. 

As  a  result  of  the  re-excitation  of  impressed 
nervous  matter  of  this  kind,  or  by  the  direct  excitation 
of  the  living  substance  of  the  auditory  centre,  a  part  of 
its  potential  energy  is  released  and  passes  along  nerve 
fibres  to  the  basal  ganglia,  and  to  the  nuclei  of  the 
nerve  fibres  which  pass  to  the  bird's  muscles  of  respira- 
tion, and  his  vocal  apparatus.  The  result  of  this 
action  is  the  repetition  of  the  sound  which  had  been 
directly  received,  or  had  been  previously  impressed, 
on  the  substance  of  the  auditory  memorial  centre 
(p.  100). 

The  essential  point  to  bear  in  mind  with  regard  to 
the  cerebral  nervous  system  of  birds  is,  that  unlike 
the  lower  classes  of  animals,  energy  passing  from 
their  senso-memorial  centres  before  it  reaches  their 
muscles  ^comes  into  relation  with  psychical  ele- 
ments, and  is  thus  in  part  transformed  into  psychi- 
cal energy.  In  birds,  from  the  very  limited 
extent  and  rudimentary  character  of  the  cortical 


PSYCHIC  MATTER  177 

elements  of  their  cerebral  hemispheres,  the  influ- 
ence of  their  psychical  matter  on  energy  passing 
from  the  memorial  centres  is  necessarily  insignificant. 
But  still  there  is  evidence  in  favour  of  the  idea  that 
parrots  possess  a  low  order  of  intellectuality.1 

Thus,  the  parrot  we  have  referred  to  had  been 
taught  by  its  mistress  when  dressed  for  her  afternoon 
drive  to  repeat  the  words  "  grannie  going  out."  By 
frequent  repetition  the  bird's  auditory  nervous  centres 
had  become  impressed  with  these  word-sounds,  and  its 
mistress's  dress  at  the  time  she  taught  it  these  words 
had  become  registered  on  the  bird's  visual  memorial 
centres.  No  sooner  therefore  did  this  lady  appear 
dressed  in  a  bonnet  and  shawl,  than  the  bird's  previously 
impressed  visual  centres  were  excited  into  action  by 
the  sight  of  its  mistress's  dress,  and  association  fibres 
brought  its  auditory  centres  into  play,  the  result  being 
the  vocal  sound  "  grannie  going  out."  If  during  life  the 
cerebral  cortex  of  this  bird's  brain  had  been  removed, 
its  basal  ganglia  being  left  intact,  all  that  the  animal 
had  learnt  during  its  lifetime  would  have  disappeared, 
but  its  instinctive  or  automatic  actions  would  have  con- 
tinued in  operation,  that  is,  all  those  actions  inherited 
by  the  animal,  and  which  were  performed  independ- 
ently of  psychical  processes. 

It  seems  to  us  that  the  specific  form  of  nervous 
matter  contained  in  the  ganglionic  cells  of  the 
mammalian  neopallium,  were  originally  derived  from 
purposive  or  instinctive  substance  contained  in  the 
basal  ganglia,  and  may  be  traced  back  through  the 
class  of  birds  to  reptiles  (see  p.  95).  We  conceive 
that  this  form  of  matter  has  been  evolved  like  the 

1  "  Human  Speech,"  p.  192. 
M 


178  THE   EVOLUTION 

other  structures  and  organs  of  the  body  in  response  to 
the  demands  made  on  it  by  the  environment,  and  like 
other  organs  it  has  become  specialised,  and  thus  able 
to  elaborate  various  forms  of  psychical  energy.  Psy- 
chical matter  was  not  made  what  it  is,  but  has  grown 
with  ascending  orders  of  animals  into  what  it  is ; 
those  orders  of  animals  which  have  developed  the 
most  perfect  neopallium,  not  only  surviving  but  gradu- 
ally improving  under  the  strain  to  which  they  are 
exposed  in  their  struggle  for  existence. 

We  may  now  pass  on  to  the  Mammalia  and  consider 
the  nature  of  the  living  substance  by  means  of  which 
psychical  processes  are  elaborated. 

It  is  to  be  noticed  that  the  cortex  of  the  cerebral 
hemispheres,  or  that  part  of  it  we  have  described  as 
tfie  neopallium  (p.  94),  assumes  important  functions, 
md  becomes  a  condition  of  survival,  for  the  first 
time  in  the  mammalia,  and  in  each  successive  geological 
epoch  it  has  been  incumbent  upon  every  mammal, 
either,  on  the  one  hand  to  adopt  some  eminently  safe 
mode  of  life  or  some  special  protective  apparatus  to 
avoid  extinction,  or  on  the  other  hand,  in  response  to 
the  environment  to  develop  a  larger  neopallium, 
which  as  an  organ  of  associative  memory  would 
enable  it,  through  means  of  its  psychical  properties, 
to  evade  danger,  and  devise  means  to  maintain 
its  own  in  the  struggle  for  existence.  For  instance, 
the  hippopotamus  is  an  example  of  a  mammal  which 
has  not  kept  pace  in  the  race  for  neopallial  supremacy, 
but  survives  by  adopting  habits  of  life  which  are 
eminently  safe,  and  has  produced  an  extremely 
effective  protective  covering.  The  condition  of  the 
human  brain  represents  the  other  extreme.  Here  the 


OF   PSYCHIC   MATTER  179 

cerebral  cortex  has  attained  its  maximum  development, 
and  its  possessor  has  not  had  to  seek  refuge  either  in 
a  retired  mode  of  life  or  any  protective  specialisation 
of  structure,  either  for  attack  or  defence,  but  has 
attained  a  dominant  position  in  the  animal  kingdom, 
while  retaining  much  of  the  generalised  structural 
features  of  the  lower  animals.1 

In  adult  human  beings  energy  derived  from 
various  sources,  passes  through  their  respective  sensory 
organs  "to  nervous  centres  located  in  the  cortex  of 
the  neopallium,  where  it  becomes  manifest  as  a 
sensation,  and  by  its  action  upon  the  surrounding 
psychical  nervous  matter  an  idea  is  elaborated ; 
that  is,  a  mental  image  of  the  object,  or  of  the 
muscular  movement  which  has  produced  the  sensa- 
tion.2 Energy  in  the  form  of  the  idea  passes 
to  the  strictly  psychical  or  association  areas  of  the 
cortex  of  the  neopallium,  and  is  there  transmuted 
into  consciousness  or  psychical  processes,  which  in 

1  Professor  G.  Elliot  Smith,  Cat.  of  Roy.  Col.  Surgeons  Museum, 
Physiol.  Series,  vol.  ii.  p.  465. 

2  The  reasons  which  have  considerable  weight  with  us  regarding 
the  connection  which  exists  between  sensations  and  ideas  rests  on  the 
fact  that  young  children  form  ideas  of  things  and  movements  at  an 
early  age,  and  long  before  they  can  reason  or  form  correct  opinions 
regarding  them.     This  state  of  affairs  may  be  explained  by  the 
condition  of   development  of   the  nervous  system   in  which  ideas 
and  intellectual  processes  are  formed  ;   in  childhood,  the  former  has 
become  completed  at  an  early  age  and  so  able  to  perform  its  functions 
and  elaborate  ideas.     But  the  real  psychical  areas  of  the  cortex  are 
not  fully  developed  and  connected  with  areas  of  ideation  until  much 
later  in  life,  and  until  their  growth  is  completed  their  functions  are 
more  or  less  imperfectly  performed.    With  the  destruction  of  the  senso- 
motor  and  surrounding  zone  of  nervous  matter  the  power  of  forming 
ideas  is  lost,  and  with  the  removal  of  the  psychical  areas  or  their 
extensive  damage  by  disease  the  reasoning  power  of  mammalia  is 
abolished. 


180  FUNCTIONS  PERFORMED 

their  turn  bring  various  groups  of  muscles  into  action. 
We  have  described  at  length  in  our  work  on  "  Human 
Speech "  the  mechanism  by  which  psychical  energy 
comes  to  play  on  Broca's  speech  organ,  and  determines 
our  power  of  silent  speech  or  cogitation,  as  well  as 
the  utterance  of  our  thoughts  in  intelligent  language. 
We  attempted  to  illustrate  this  process  by  means  of 
a  diagrammatic  form. 

In  this  diagram  the  letter  E  represents  the  nervous 
apparatus  of  one  of  the  sensory  organs,  which  receives 

energy  from  the  external 
world,  and  transmits  it 
to  A,  a  sensori-memorial 
centre  located  in  the 
cerebral  cortex.  In  this 
centre  the  sensation  pro- 
duced by  the  stimulus, 
or  mode  of  energy 
received  from  A,  takes 

VA  the  form  of  an  idea  or 

mental    image    of    the 

object  that  produced  the  sensation.  In  the  form  of 
ideas  energy  passes  from  the  centre  A  to  B,  where 
ideas  are  associated,  and  by  practice  elaborated  into 
psychical  processes  which  pass  to  M,  the  motor  area 
for  word-ideas  and  becomes  manifest  in  intelligent 
speech,  VA. 

The  above  statement  gives  nothing  more  than  a 
bald  outline  of  this  truly  wonderful  and  complex 
system,  but  it  claims  our  attention  for  the  following 
among  other  reasons. 

In  the  first  place  there  is  no  difficulty,  in  properly 
prepared  specimens,  in  demonstrating  the  paths  by 


BY   PSYCHIC   MATTER  181 

which  energy  is  conducted  from  the  sense  organs 
to  the  cortical  nervous  centres,  and  onward  to  various 
groups  of  muscles.  Further,  we  can  show  that  the 
cortical  nervous  centres  are  all  intimately  connected 
to  one  another,  and  to  the  basal  ganglia  and  other 
important  structures  contained  within  the  cranium 
and  spinal  canal  (Fig.  14,  p.  111). 

With  reference  to  the  path  followed  by  energy  in  its 
passage  through  the  sense  organs  and  cerebrum  to  its 
discharge  in  the  various  groups  of  muscles,  we  are 
struck  by  the  number  of  interruptions  and  transmuta- 
tions it  has  to  overcome  before  it  reaches  its  destination. 
Not  only  does  the  form  of  energy  become  as  it  were 
sifted  in  its  passage  through  its  appropriate  sensory 
organ,  .but  it  must  undergo  modifications  at  each  stage 
of  its  progress  through  the  cerebrum.  We  conceive 
that  this  system  is  in  some  way  adapted  to  facilitate 
special  modes  of  energy  reaching  their  destination  in 
living  elements  of  the  psychical  areas  of  the  neopalliiim, 
and  is  there  transmuted  into  forms  capable  of 
promoting  the  weilbeing  of  the  individual  and  of  the 
race  to  which  he  belongs.  Action  of  this  kind  must 
depend  largely  on  the  inherent  nature  of  this  living 
matter,,  and  the  training  it  has  undergone  especially 
during  the  early  years  of  life. 

We  find^  clearly  defined  differences  in  the  form, 
and  probably  therefore  in  the  functions  performed  by 
the  various  strata  of  cells  which  constitute  the  cortical 
layer  of  the  neopallium  (see  p.  94).  Beyond  this  the 
character  of  these  cells  differs  in  the  various  lobes 
and  convolutions  into  which  the  pallium  has  been 
divided  for  descriptive  purposes.  With  few  exceptions 
the  form  and  structural  arrangement  of  the  cells  of 


182  FUNCTIONS   PERFORMED   BY 

cerebral  cortex  are  precisely  similar  in  the  various 
families  of  men  scattered  over  the  face  of  the  earth. 
The  exceptions  to  this  rule,  so  far  noticed,  consist  in 
a  reversion,  in  the  case  of  the  brains  of  certain  Egyptians 
and  natives  of  Australia,  to  a  type  of  neopallium 
similar  to  that  which  is  found  in  the  man-like  apes 
and  certain  idiots. 

The  living  substance  of  a  well-recognised  pyramidal 
form  of  cortical  cells  has  evidently  become  specialised 
for  motory  purposes,  being  the  medium  through 
means  of  which  energy  received  from  the  psychical 
elements  is  transmuted  into  energy  capable  of  acting 
upon  various  groups  of  muscles.1 

By  way  of  hypothesis  we  assume  that  the  living 
elements  having  definite  functions  may  elaborate  the 
various  psychical  processes,  but  until  we  have  further 
evidence  bearing  on  the  physiological  properties  pos- 
sessed by  these  various  forms  of  matter,  it  seems 
premature  for  us  to  dwell  on  this  subject.2 

1  After  amputation  of  either  an  upper  or  lower  limb,  it  is  found  that 
the  cortical  nerve-cells  which  have  supplied  nervous  energy  to  this 
limb  before  amputation  become  atrophied,  their  living  substance  for 
some  time  previous  to  death  not  having  been  used  had  dwindled  away. 
Dr  A.  W.  Campbell,  Abstract  of  Paper  read  before  the  Royal  Society, 
Dec.  3,  1903. 

2  In  the  English  translation  of  Professor  T.  Ziehen's  work  of  "  Intro- 
duction to  Physiological  Psychology  "  the  reader  will,  as  the  translators 
remark,  find  an  excellent  account  of  the  field  of  physiological  psychology 
in  general,  based  on  the  English  interpretation  of  the  psychology  of 
association  in  particular.    The  work,  though  small  in  comparison  with 
most  books  on  this  subject,  embraces  within  a  limited  compass  the 
essentials  of  the  science.     The  author  defines  clearly  the  province  of 
this  science,  and  finds  the  limits  that  separate  it  from  other  related 
sciences.     Throughout  the  entire  work  it  has  been  his  aim  to  develop 
all  explanations  as  far  as  possible  from  physical  or  physiological  data, 
and  to  account  for  the  presence  of  certain  functions  by  an  application 


SENSORI-MEMORIAL   CENTRES  183 

That  certain  areas  of  the  cortex  possess  limited  but 
well- defined  functions,  is  established  by  cases  such  as 
those  we  have  referred  to  ("Human  Speech,"  p.  214),  in 
which  the  memorial  auditory  centre  for  words  was 
obliterated  in  both  hemispheres  of  the  cerebrum. 
As  regards  vision  Dr  George  Mackay  has  reported 
the  following  case,  demonstrating  not  only  that  the 
visual  cortical  centre  is  located  in  the  occipital  lobe, 
but  that  it  has  become  differentiated  into  living 
matter  possessing  separate  visual  functions.  This 
individual,  who  was  sixty-two  years  of  age  and  whose 
appreciation  of  colours  such  as  those  of  flowers  and 
other  objects  had  been  perfect  up  to  this  time  of  life, 
suddenly  lost  this  power,  and  became  what  is  known 
as  completely  "  colour-blind,"  but  he  could  still  see 
to  read,  in  fact  his  near  and  distant  vision  for  objects 
was  perfect,  but  he  had  lost  all  perception  of  their 
colour.  The  patient  died  suddenly  in  April  1897, 
and  after  death  it  was  found  that  the  part  of  the 
cerebral  cortex  which  forms  the  centre  for  colour 
sense  had  been  destroyed  by  disease  of  this  area  of 
the  occipital  lobes.1 

It  is,  we  repeat,  through  the  action  of  energy 
received  by  the  sensori-memorial  cortical  centres  that 
sensations  are  produced  and  are  elaborated  into  ideas 
by  the  surrounding  psychical  elements.  The  idea 
denotes  the  thing  from  which  the  sensations  are 

of  the  laws  of  evolution.  In  fine,  the  author  treats  physiological 
psychology,  as  it  should  be  dealt  with,  as  a  natural  science.  See 
Translator's  Preface,  p.  viii.,  "Introduction  to  Physiological 
Psychology,"  by  Dr  Theodor  Ziehen,  Professor  in  Jena. 

1  From  the  Laboratory  of  the  Royal  Col.  of  Phys.,  Edinburgh. 
See  also  the  Bradshaw  Lecture  for  1909  by  F.  R.  Cross,  F.R.C.S., 
Brit.  Med.  Journ.,  December  18,  1909. 


184  THE   NEOPALLIUM 

derived,  and  any  sensation  in  the  idea  means  a 
feature  of  the  thing.  The  tone,  the  smell,  colour,  as 
sensations,  can  thus  be  communicated  indirectly  by 
reference  to  the  sounding,  smelling,  luminous  physical 
objects,  and  any  degree  of  exactness  can  be  reached 
by  the  increasingly  accurate  description  of  the  physical 
side.1  In  the  same  way  we  conceive,  ideas,  the  result 
of  work  performed  by  specialised  elements  of  living 
nervous  matter,  become  manifest  through  the  action 
of  the  psychical  cortical  matter  into  psychical 
processes.  For  instance,  the  idea  of  an  orange  is 
formed  by  the  association  of  the  memory  centres  of 
taste,  touch,  smell,  and  vision,  aided  by  the  muscle 
sense  in  handling  an  orange.  Each  sensation  has 
been  acquired  by  its  particular  sensory  centres  through 
means  of  a  course  of  training  which  has  been  going 
on  from  the  early  years  of  childhood.  But  it  is 
through  the  action  of  the  memory  and  psychical 
elements  of  the  cerebral  cortex  we  are  enabled  to 
think  of  an  orange,  that  is,  to  form  a  complete  mental 
image  of  it  when  it  is  not  present  to  our  senses, 
and  to  recognise  it  instantly  when  it  is  present 
(see  p.  65). 

If  any  one  of  the  sensori-motor  centres  or  the  chain 
of  communication  between  them  is  destroyed,  the 
process  above  described  is  hindered  if  not  lost,  pro- 
vided both  hemispheres  of  the  cerebrum  are  in  like 
manner  affected.  Cases  of  aphasia  demonstrate  this 
fact,  the  power  to  see  the  words  may  continue  in 
operation,  but  the  aphasic  person,  though  he  under- 
stands their  meaning  and  hears  them  when  repeated, 
cannot  pronounce  the  words  because  the  region  in 

1  "  Psychology  and  Life,"  by  H.  Miinsterberg,  p.  50, 


THE   NEOPALLIUM  185 

which  the  motor  idea  of  words  is  located  is  out  of 
gear. 

The  mass  of  the  neopallium  has  increased  in  pro- 
portion to  that  of  the  rest  of  their  brain  or  of  their 
bodies,  from  the  anthropoid  apes  up  to  man  of  the 
tertiary  period,  and  onwards  through  the  glacial  and 
post-glacial  times  to  that  of  men  now  existing  on  the 
earth.  With  this  increase  in  the  amount  of  living 
substance  of  the  cerebral  cortex  there  has  been  a 
corresponding  increase  in  man's  psychical  powers.  On 
the  other  hand,  human  beings  born  with  imperfectly 
developed  neopallia,  or  those  whose  cerebral  cortex 
has  been  damaged  severely  by  injury  or  disease, 
experience  a  corresponding  diminution  in  their  mental 
capacities. 

There  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  influence  which 
the  work  performed  by  the  nervous  substance  of  the 
neopallium  exercises  over  the  destinies  of  the  human 
race  ;  it  is  not  by  physical  strength  or  by  his  in- 
herited instinctive  character  that  man  has  attained 
his  predominant  position  in  the  world,  this  position 
he  has  gained  by  means  of  the  evolution  of  the 
living  purposive  elements  of  his  cerebrum  into  the 
mass  of  psychical  material  which  he  above  all 
animals  possesses  in  the  form  of  a  highly-developed 
neopallium. 

Philosophers,  however,  of  the  highest  rank  (Schopen- 
hauer, for  instance)  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion 
that  human  beings  may  "  be  endowed  with  acumen 
and  culture,  and  perceive  what  is  wrong  and  disapprove 
of  it ;  but  if  the  personal  character  of  the  individual 
is  inclined  to  wrong-doing  the  intelligence  cannot 
prevent  or  even  correct  his  reprehensible  inclinations. 


186  PERSONAL  HEREDITARY 

Well-doing  or  wrong- doing  do  not  therefore  depend 
on  the  intellect,  but  on  the  character."1 

We  cannot  fully  concur  in  this  opinion,  but  we  do 
maintain  that  the  personal  character  or  inherited 
instincts  of  human  beings  form  a  kind  of  substratum 
(unconscious)  to  their  mental  life,  and  constitute  the 
real  cause  of  most  of  their  actions.  It  is  this  sub- 
stratum of  feeling  of  each  individual  and  race  which 
forms  the  individual  or  national  character,  and  may 
be  traced  back  more  or  less  clearly  to  their  ancestors. 
In  our  opinion  these  characters  result  from  work 
performed  by  the  living  instinctive  elements  of  the 
basal  ganglia  and  the  inner  cortical  lamina  of  his 
cerebral  hemispheres.  We  conceive  it  hardly  possible 
that  this  form  of  matter  made  its  appearance  suddenly 
in  some  far  distant  progenitor  of  the  human  race,  and 
through  him  (and  her)  came  to  endow  with  instinct 
this  order  of  animals.  As  we  have  attempted  to 
show,  it  seems  more  probable  that  the  evolution  of 
this  matter  has  been  effected  gradually,  and  reached 
its  present  stage  of  development  in  the  various  classes 
of  animals  by  means  of  natural  selection. 

From  early  childhood  onwards,  by  constant  practice 
of  the  maturing  chain  of  nervous  structures  which 
constitute  our  sensory  organs,  sensori- memorial  centres, 
association  areas,  and  motor  centres,  we  learn  to  form 
and  to  connect  ideas,  and  thus  acquire  the  power  to 
think,  and  to  give  expression  to  our  thoughts  in 
intelligent  language.  We  have  endeavoured  to  eluci- 
date the  nature  of  the  materials  concerned  in  these 
processes. 

1 "  Contemporary    Psychology,"    by    Professor    Guido    Villa,    pp. 
219-295. 


CHARACTERS  187 

In  our  work  on  "  Human  Speech  "  we  dwelt  on  the 
nature  of  the  organic  materials  which  forms  the  basis 
substance  of  living  matter  and  described  its  funda- 
mental properties,  and  its  development  under  the 
action  of  its  environment  into  sensory  organs  and 
corresponding  cerebral  centres.  We  thus  arrived  at 
the  conclusion  that  it  was  through  the  systematic 
training  of  the  nervous  substance  of  the  sensory  organs 
and  their  cerebral  centres,  that  we  could  best  hope  to 
develop  the  psychical  cortical  substance  in  young 
people. 

Starting  upon  this  basis,  we  have  shown  in  the 
preceding  pages  that  the  actions  of  human  beings 
throughout  their  lives  are,  to  a  large  extent,  controlled 
by  their  inherent  personal  characters,  as  distinguished 
from  their  intellectual  acquirements,  and  that  these 
hereditary  qualities  depend  on  work  performed  by  a 
definite  area  of  their  brain. 

In  order  to  substantiate  the  conclusions  arrived  at 
on  this  subject  from  a  study  of  comparative  biology, 
we  have,  in  the  second  part  of  this  work,  given 
the  outlines  of  the  history  of  a  tribe  of  men  which 
demonstrates,  not  only  the  existence  of  inherited 
personal  characters,  but  also  the  important  part  they 
take  in  ordering  the  lives  of  individuals  and  the 
destinies  of  the  race  to  which  they  belong. 


PART  II 


CHAPTER  I 

BEFORE  commencing  to  portray  the  hereditary  traits  of 
character  which,  to  a  large  extent,  ruled  the  conduct  of 
the  people  we  are  about  to  study,  it  is  advisable  to 
refer  to  the  nature  of  the  locality  in  which  they  ex- 
isted, and  to  the  laws  and  social  condition  under  which 
they  lived  from  the  dawn  of  the  historical  period  until 
the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century.1 

These  people  dwelt  in  a  well-defined  part  of  Ireland 
now  known  as  County  Clare.  The  southern  and  eastern 
boundary  of  this  county  is  formed  by  the  river  Shannon, 
which  in  the  time  to  which  we  refer  was  fordable  at  only 
one  place  below  the  existing  town  of  Killaloe.  To  the 
east  the  county  is  bounded  by  the  Atlantic  ocean,  and  to 
the  north  by  Galway  Bay,  and  a  strip  of  bog-land, 
together  with  the  range  of  Echtye  hills,  which  in 
former  times  were  covered  by  dense  almost  impene- 
trable forests.  This  district  therefore  in  ancient  times 
was  almost  completely  isolated  from  the  rest  of  Ireland 
and  from  the  outside  world. 

We  have  still,  in  what  is  known  as  the  Brehon  Code, 
the  laws  and  regulations  which  governed  the  lives  of 
the  inhabitants  of  County  Clare  for  many  centuries. 
In  this  code  we  find  prescribed  the  regulations  which 
ordered  the  position  of  the  various  classes  of  the 

1  Much  of  the  following  pages  is  taken  from  a  work  published  by 
the  author,  "  The  Story  of  an  Irish  Sept,"  which  has  been  out  of 
print  for  some  ten  years  past. 

191 


192  THE   ENVIRONMENT 

ancient  Irish,  the  management  of  their  lands, 
dwellings,  and  in  fact  of  all  their  family  and  social 
relations.1  It  was  not  until  the  year  A.D.  432  that 
St  Patrick  proposed  to  revise  and  commit  the  Brehon 
Laws  into  the  form  of  a  written  code,  expunging  from 
them  what  was  contrary  to  the  teaching  of  Christianity, 
"  for  the  laws  of  nature  had  been  quite  right  except 
the  faith  and  its  obligations,  and  in  harmony  of  the 
Church  and  the  people." 

Until  the  time  therefore  of  the  introduction  of 
Christianity  into  Ireland  the  Brehon  Code  had  been 
passed  on  orally  from  one  to  another  generation 
by  a  class  of  men  known  as  Brehons,  who  had  to  go 
through  a  course  of  some  twelve  years'  training  before 
they  were  allowed  to  enter  the  lowest  ranks  of  their 
calling.  The  Brehons  attempted  to  meet  every  possible 
variety  of  case  by  rules,  leaving  no  discretion  as  to  the 
amount  of  damages  to  be  awarded,  for  the  award 
rested  upon  some  previous  decision  given  in  an  actual 
or  in  a  hypothetical  case  laid  down  by  the  Code.  There 
was  no  appeal  from  the  decision  of  a  Brehon  unless 
on  the  ground  of  "  sudden  judgment."  Each  province 
had  a  chief  Brehon  who  was  the  King's  adviser. 

There  was,  however,  no  direct  power  of  enforcing 
the  law,  and  this  entailed  a  process  known  as  that  of 
Distress,  which  consisted  in  the  intervention  of  some 
extraneous  influence  to  arbitrate  between  persons  who 
were  otherwise  unable  to  settle  their  own  differences. 
This  was  a  complicated  matter  in  many  cases  because, 

1  Mr  Basil  Kennett  in  his  work  on "  The  Law  of  Nature  and 
Nations,"  p.  73,  states  that  the  Brehon  Code  in  some  respects  nearly 
resembles  the  Visigothic  Code,  the  Forum  Judicum,  or  the  Fuero 
Juzgo  of  Spain. 


AND   HEREDITY  193 

as  a  rule,  individuals  had  no  personal  property ;  it  was 
from  the  common  family  stock  that  the  payment  of 
all  fines  had  to  be  met. 

If  an  offender  refused  to  submit  his  case  to  the 
arbitration  of  a  Brehon  or  declined  to  meet  the  award 
given  against  him,  the  injured  person  proceeded  under 
the  law  of  distress  to  seize  a  certain  number  of  the 
cattle  or  other  effects  of  the  defaulter,  after  having 
given  due  notice  of  the  action  he  was  about  to  take. 
If  cattle  were  seized  they  were  placed  in  a  pound  and 
properly  cared  for.  The  parties  concerned  in  the 
action  appeared  before  a  Brehon,  with  witnesses,  and 
all  that  was  necessary  to  prove  the  claim.  The 
arbitrator  having  heard  the  case  on  both  sides  gave 
judgment  in  accord  with  precedence  laid  down  by  the 
Code.  This  judgment  was  final,  and  unless  the  person 
against  whom  it  was  given,  or  his  family,  conformed 
to  the  decision,  he  was  excluded  from  the  tribe  to 
which  he  belonged  ;  if  low  in  the  social  scale  he  might 
be  handed  over  to  the  creditor  as  a  slave  for  a  specific 
term  of  years,  or  for  life.1 

If  a  poor  man  made  a  claim  against  a  landowner 
which  the  latter  declined  to  notice,  the  plaintiff  pro- 
ceeded to  fast  upon  his  more  powerful  neighbour  ;  that 
is,  he  seated  himself  at  the  door  of  the  rich  man's 
dwelling  and  remained  there  without  food  until  he 
received  satisfaction.  "  He  who  does  not  give  pledges 
to  a  fasting  person  is  an  evader  of  all ;  he  who  dis- 
regards all  things  shall  not  be  paid  by  God  or  man." 
A  system  of  much  the  same  kind  still  prevails  in 
certain  parts  of  India.2 

1  Senchus  Mor,  "  Brehon  Code  of  Laws,"  vol.  i.  p.  107. 

2  Sir  H.  Maine,  "  The  Early  History  of  Institutions,"  p.  297. 

N 


194  .      THE   ENVIRONMENT 

Homicide  under  the  Brehon  laws  was  punishable 
by  a  fine,  such  as  the  Brehon  considered  was  sufficient 
to  compensate  the  family  of  the  murdered  man  for  the 
loss  they  had  sustained.  But  cases  of  homicide  were 
divided  into  two  classes,  those  committed  with  fore- 
thought, and  those  without  malice.  One  of  the  chief 
difficulties  St  Patrick  experienced  in  revising  this 
Code  was  his  demand  to  kill  the  murderer ;  and 
although  he  prevailed  in  words,  the  people  declined 
to  follow  his  teaching,  and  so  murder  remained 
punishable  by  a  fine,  and  this  state  of  things  was  one 
of  the  chief  charges  brought  against  the  Code  by 
English  lawyers  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  time. 

One  of  the  volumes  of  the  Brehon  Code  is  given  to 
the  subject  of  Bee  Judgments  or  the  rights  of  persons 
to  swarms  of  bees  which  had  settled  on  their  lands  ; 
honey  in  these  early  times  was  a  valuable  article, 
being  used  in  place  of  sugar  until  well  into  the 
sixteenth  century.  Questions  arising  out  of  bee 
swarming  were  complicated,  and  gave  rise  to  all 
manner  of  hypothetical  and  actual  judgments,  which 
fill  many  pages  of  the  Brehon  law  tracts. 

The  Tribe  and  Sept — in  the  Brehon  laws,  the  word 
"  fine  "  is  used  for  the  family,  that  is,  for  the  children 
of  the  same  parents;  by  the  term  sept  (which  is  the  same 
as  the  conjoint  family  in  India)  is  meant  the  combined 
descendants  of  an  ancestor  long  since  deceased,  who 
had  been  one  of  the  sons  of  the  original  chief  or  head 
of  the  tribe.  The  tribe  consisted  of  a  group  or 
aggregate  of  septs.  To  each  sept  a  specific  portion  of 
territory  or  tribal  and  common  lands  was  assigned. 

The  chief  of  the  tribe  was  elected  to  office  by  the 
free  men  of  the  tribe  from  the  "  next  in  blood  that 


AND   HEREDITY  195 

was  eldest  and  worthiest."  The  head  of  the  sept  was 
elected  to  office  in  the  same  way,  and  was  under 
certain  military  and  financial  obligations  to  the  chief 
of  his  tribe ;  the  latter  in  his  turn  was  in  later  times 
subject  to  the  King  of  the  Province  in  which  certain 
tribes  and  sept  were  located.  The  principle  under- 
lying this  system  was  that  the  title  to  nobility 
depended  entirely  on  the  known  character  of  the  man  as 
testified  by  his  fellow-tribesmen.  But  it  was  evident 
that  under  a  system  of  this  kind  the  tribe  or  sept 
might  have  been  left  in  the  midst  of  a  battle  or  other 
emergency  without  a  proper  leader.  To  obviate  this 
difficulty  when  the  chief  was  chosen  the  tribe  or  sept 
also  elected  a  Tanist  or  substitute  chief,  who  as  a 
rule  was  one  of  the  elder  sons  of  the  chief ;  but  "  he 
must  be  the  most  capable  member  of  the  family,"  no 
other  claim  was  allowed.  In  the  case  of  competitors 
arising  among  the  tribesmen  for  the  office  of  leader, 
the  dispute  was  settled  in  a  speedy  and  practical 
fashion  by  the  contending  parties  meeting,  and  in 
combat  testing  which  was  the  strongest. 

The  chiefs  of  tribes  and  septs  had  in  proportion  to 
their  social  position,  certain  areas  of  land  allotted  to 
them  which  they  held  in  virtue  of  their  office  ;  they 
also  received  tribute  and  cesses  from  the  freemen  of 
their  tribe  or  sept,  which  were  paid  in  stock.  They 
were  in  return  bound  to  practise  hospitality,  to  pro- 
vide, and  be  ready  themselves  with  their  followers  to 
defend  their  lands  and  province  from  external  foes. 

The  family  or  sept  consisted  of  kinsmen  combined 
for  social  purposes,  its  members  shared  their  goods 
in  common,  their  home  was  the  centre  of  the  family 
life,  and  was  governed  under  a  system  of  unwritten 


196  THE   ENVIRONMENT 

laws  by  an  elected  head,  who  was  answerable  for  the 
good  conduct  of  the  members  of  the  family,  for  the 
safe  keeping  of  its  stock  and  other  goods.  There  was 
no  executive  authority  to  enforce  order,  the  head  of 
the  family  was  supreme  within  the  precincts  of  his 
home  and  lands,  and  in  case  of  necessity  could  expel 
a  member,  who  thus  became  an  outlaw  or  in  most  cases 
a  serf. 

It  is  evident  that  under  a  system  such  as  this  a 
man  and  his  wife  would,  with  their  children  and 
grandchildren,  soon  overstock  the  parental  home  ; 
and  as  the  lands  allotted  to  a  family  were  limited,  it 
was  necessary  to  restrict  the  number  of  sons  entitled 
to  become  landholders.  If  there  were  more  than  the 
prescribed  number  of  sons,  the  excess  had  to  become 
retainers  on  the  estate  or  to  shift  for  themselves  ;  on 
the  death  of  one  of  the  sept  the  chief  made  a  re- 
partition of  the  land  belonging  to  the  family,  everyone 
receiving  his  share  according  to  his  position  in  the 
family.  In  this  way,  and  by  the  method  of  restricting 
the  partition  of  the  land  as  above  mentioned  (gavel- 
kind),  the  descendants  of  the  original  head  of  the 
family  claiming  land  were  kept  within  due  limits. 

The  ownership  of  land  was  the  centre  round  which 
the  whole  social  and  political  life  of  the  early  Irish 
revolved.  It  was  the  possession  of  land  and  the 
means  of  cultivating  it  that  constituted  a  freeman,  in 
contradistinction  to  the  landless  person,  who  was  a 
bondsman  or  serf,  and  possessed  no  social  position  or 
rights  whatever  ;  he  could  be  bought  or  sold  in  the  same 
way  as  cattle,  and  was  evidently  in  many  instances 
even  less  cared  for  than  his  master's  horses. 

From  the  Brehon  laws  we   learn  that  "  persons  are 


AND    HEREDITY  197 

of  equal  rank  when  they  have  the  same  quantity  of 
land  "-—that  "what  a  man  had  not  bought  he  cannot 
sell  "• — "  a  man  was  bound  to  keep  his  lands  during  his 
life  perfect,  and  leave  them  with  no  greater  debt  than 
he  received  with  them" — "he  must  leave  his  share  in 
the  land  to  the  common  possession  of  the  family  to 
which  he  belongs." 

Landlords  and  landholders,  as  freemen,  were  divided 
into  classes  according  to  the  quantity  of  land  and 
cattle  they  possessed ;  each  class  being  entitled  to 
definite  privileges.  Thus,  the  head  of  a  family  could 
only  claim  admission  to  the  lowest  class  of  freemen  if 
for  three  generations  the  family  had  possessed  a  certain 
amount  of  land,  a  plough,  an  ox  and  harness,  a  kiln, 
hand-mill,  cooking  cauldron,  and  various  other  articles  ; 
a  larger  amount  of  land  and  stock  raised  a  man  a 
step  in  the  social  scale,  and  so  he  might  rise  to  the 
sixth  grade,  in  which  class  of  society  the  landholder, 
among  other  articles,  must  possess  "  a  head-bathing 
basin,"  and  other  articles  described  with  minuteness 
in  the  Brehon  Code.  The  landlords  were  likewise 
divided  into  classes,  according  to  the  amount  of  land  they 
owned.  Besides  many  other  things  mentioned  which 
a  landlord  must  possess,  were  beds  and  bedding,  and  a 
kitchen  boiler  "  in  which  a  cow  would  fit,  or  a  pig  in 
bacon."  l 

A  family  could  thus  rise  if  they  acquired  and  held 
sufficient  lands  for  three  generations  to  enable  its  head 
to  qualify  for  a  higher  class  ;  on  the  other  hand  the  loss 
of  property  entailed  forfeiture  of  position  and  with  it 
social  privileges.2  There  was  no  hereditary  claim  to 

1  O'Curry,  "  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Early  Irish,"  vol.  iii.  p.  29. 

2  "  Brehon  Laws,"  vol.  iv.  p.  227. 


198  THE   ENVIRONMENT 

property,  and  every  man  was  enabled  by  hard  work  and 
skill  to  raise  his  family  in  the  social  scale. 

A  landlord  having  more  tribal  lands  than  he 
required,  might  hand  over  the  surplus  to  his  relations 
on  condition  of  receiving  tribute,  and  providing  food 
for  the  landlord  and  his  servants,  as  well  as  military 
duty  when  required.  Tribute  consisted  in  one  case 
of  "  a  calf,  a  salted  pig,  a  sack  of  wheat  or  malt,  and 
a  handful  of  rushlights."  This  class  of  landholder, 
and  those  who  farmed  the  private  estates  of  large 
landowners,  soon  grew  to  form  an  important  element 
in  the  country,  principally  because  their  landlord 
could  at  all  times  demand  military  service,  and  the 
number  of  his  retainers  was  thus  augmented,  and  as 
most  of  these  retainers  were  in  debt  to  their  landlord, 
he  compelled  them  not  only  to  fight  for  him,  but  also 
to  build  his  forts,  and  construct  roads  over  his  estate. 
But  if  the  landholder  had  given  "food,  rent,  and 
service  "  for  seven  years,  on  the  death  of  the  landowner 
the  stock  on  the  occupied  lands  passed  to  the  holder ; 
on  the  other  hand,  if  the  landholder  died  his  family 
were  to  a  great  extent  relieved  from  the  obligations 
which  the  deceased  had  incurred.1 

According  to  Brehon  laws  a  father  was  obliged  to 
provide  for  his  daughters  either  in  their  own  home,  or 
more  commonly  in  the  home  of  foster-parents,  until  the 
girl  had  attained  the  age  of  seventeen  when  she  was 
marriageable.  A  father  was  bound  to  marry  his 
daughters  to  men  of  equal  rank  to  his  own.  He  was 
also  obliged  to  support  his  daughters  if  necessary  in 
old  age,  sickness  or  trouble.  Mothers  had  to  provide 
for  their  sons,  who  had  reciprocal  obligations. 

1  Sir  H.  Maine,  "  Early  Institutions,"  p.  163. 


AND   HEREDITY  199 

The  laws  relating  to  marriage  carefully  protected 
the  rights  of  married  women.  Unlike  the  Eoman  law 
the  Brehon  Code  demanded  for  the  mother  of  a  family 
a  position  equal  to  that  of  the  father,  and  when  they 
possessed  equal  property  the  one  could  not  enter  into 
any  contract  concerning  it,  without  the  consent  of  the 
other.  We  know  little  regarding  the  ceremony  of 
marriage,  if  any,  as  practised  by  the  ancient  Irish 
people.  A  divorce  seems  to  have  been  a  matter  of 
mutual  understanding  even  as  late  as  the  eleventh 
century  ;  for  instance,  Brian  Born  took  to  himself  a 
wife  who  had  two  other  husbands,  and  when  he  found 
her  too  hot-tempered  to  be  agreeable  he  parted  from 
her  without  ceremony. 

The  subject  of  Fosterage  formed  an  important  part 
in  the  family  life  of  the  early  Irish  people  ;  it  was 
held  by  them  that  discipline,  obedience  and  respect  for 
their  superiors,  and  the  work  which  boys  and  girls 
would  have  to  follow  in  their  after  lives,  was  best 
learnt  away  from  their  own  homes.  Parents  con- 
sequently sent  their  children  when  about  seven  years 
of  age  to  a  relative,  or  someone  belonging  to  their  own 
grade  of  society,  to  be  nurtured  and  instructed  so  as 
to  fit  them  for  their  future  calling  in  life.  The 
person  to  whom  a  child  was  entrusted  was  called  his 
foster-father.  As  the  young  person's  work  in  life  was, 
in  addition  to  physical  exercise  and  the  use  of  arms, 
connected  with  the  soil,  the  cultivation  of  the  land 
and  that  which  grew  and  fed  upon  it  was  what  the 
boy  had  to  learn.  The  girls  in  the  same  way  were 
instructed  "  in  discipline,  the  use  of  the  quern, 
kneading,  and  all  descriptions  of  domestic  work."  We 
hear  nothing  of  the  intellectual  acquirements  of  these 


200  THE   BREHON  CODE 

young  people ;  in  truth  no  instruction  of  the  kind  was 
possible  until  well  after  St  Patrick's  time.  Up  to  that 
period  the  education  of  the  hereditary  characters  of 
young  persons  was  the  aim  of  foster-parents,  together 
with  training  their  powers  of  endurance  and  prepara- 
tion for  war.  To  enable  the  foster-father  to  fulfil  his 
trust  he  was,  under  the  Brehon  Code,  allowed  to 
chastise  his  foster-son,  but  never  to  the  extent  of 
drawing  blood  or  leaving  a  mark  on  a  lad ;  heavy 
penalties  were  imposed  for  a  breach  of  this  law. 
In  case  of  illness,  inability  to  learn  his  duties,  or 
for  gross  misconduct,  the  foster-father  was  allowed  to 
send  the  lad  back  to  his  parents  ;  on  the  other  hand, 
if  a  foster-father  kept  a  boy  until  he  was  seventeen 
years  of  age,  when  the  lad  was  under  obligation  to 
return  to  his  home,  and  it  was  then  found  he  was  riot 
efficient  in  the  use  of  arms  and  for  the  work  of  his 
future  calling,  obedient,  and  in  fact  properly  instructed, 
the  foster-father  was  heavily  fined.  The  amount 
of  the  fine  was  to  be  made  over  to  the  lad,  because,  as 
the  Brehon  Code  states,  it  was  "  upon  him  the  injury 
of  the  want  of  learning  had  been  inflicted."  1  While 
under  the  care  of  a  foster-father  it  was  prescribed  by 
law  that  a  lad's  food  should  consist  of  porridge  flavoured 
with  salt  butter  and  milk.  Among  the  upper  classes 
honey  was  added  to  the  porridge.  There  was  an 
abundance  of  fish  and  meat  to  be  had,  but  these 
articles  were  riot  included  in  the  diet-roll  of  young 
people  reared  in  ancient  Ireland. 

The  sons  of  the  higher  classes,  in  addition  to  the 
use  of   arms  and   the  care  of   land  and  stock,  were 

1  "  The  Brehon  Code  of  Laws,"  vol.  ii.  p.  155.     A  system  which 
many  parents  would  at  the  present  time  gladly  see  enforced. 


THE   FENIA  201 

taught  horsemanship,  chess-playing,  and  swimming. 
They  rode  their  steeds  bare-backed  and  with  only  a 
piece  of  rope  in  the  animal's  mouth  to  guide  him. 

The  after-training  of  these  youths,  up  to  end  of  the 
third  century  of  the  Christian  era,  may  be  learnt  from 
the  descriptions  that  have  come  down  to  us  concerning 
the  training  of  the  Fenia  or  Militia  of  ancient  Ireland. 
Before  a  lad  could  enter  this  corps  he  was  subjected 
to  an  examination,  in  order  to  show  that  he  was  able 
to  defend  himself  with  a  shield  and  hazel  stick,  from 
javelins  thrown  at  him  from  a  distance  of  twenty 
yards.  It  was  necessary  for  him  to  be  a  good  runner, 
to  leap  over  a  bar  up  to  the  height  of  his  chin,  and 
stoop  under  one  as  low  as  his  knees.  He  had  to  be 
strong  of  arm  as  tested  by  the  use  of  the  sword, 
battle-axe  and  mace.  Having  qualified  in  these  sub- 
jects he  had  to  give  security  that,  if  killed  in  battle 
none  of  his  family  should  attempt  to  avenge  his  death, 
"  the  affair  of  his  death  must  be  left  wholly  in  the 
hands  of  his  comrades,  who  should  take  care  to  do 
him  justice."  l 

The  Fenia  are  described  as  being  keen  sportsmen, 
and  after  a  day's  hunting,  they  sent  the  game  to  a 
convenient  spot  and  roasted  part  of  the  venison  on 
spits,  baking  the  remainder  after  having  bound  it  round 
with  ropes  of  grass.  They  ate  but  once  a  day  ; 
before  feeding  they  stripped,  bathed,  and  dressed 
their  hair.  "  They  then  began  to  supple  their  thews 
and  muscles  by  gentle  exercise,  loosening  them  by 
friction,  until  they  relieved  themselves  from  stiffness 
and  fatigue,  after  which  they  took  their  meal,  and 
then  constructed  booths  and  prepared  their  beds  of 

1  Keating's  "  History  of  Ireland,"  O'Connor's  Edition,  p.  271. 


202  THE    BREHON   CODE 

brushwood  placed  on  the  ground,  and  over  that  moss 
and  fresh  rushes." 

We  find  references  in  the  Brehon  Code  to  an  insti- 
tution or  office  known  as  the  Public  Hospitaller,  which 
existed  in  Ireland  from  the  earliest  times  until  the 
sixteenth  century.  The  functions  of  this  individual 
were  to  keep  open  house  on  the  part  of  his  sept,  and 
to  receive  distinguished  visitors,  or  strangers  passing 
through  his  district  when  the  chief  of  the  sept  from 
any  cause  was  prevented  from  entertaining  such  people. 
To  enable  the  hospitaller  to  perform  these  functions 
he  was  allowed  five  hundred  acres  of  free  land,  besides 
other  privileges.  The  hospitaller's  house  was  in  truth 
a  kind  of  public  hall,  and  in  it  assemblies  were  held  for 
various  purposes  connected  with  the  interests  of  the  sept. 
The  dwelling  occupied  by  this  official  was  built  at  the 
meeting  of  cross-roads,  and  he  was  bound  to  keep  a 
light  burning  over  his  residence  throughout  the  night, 
so  as  to  direct  wayfarers  to  the  house.  The  hospitaller 
was  precluded  from  taking  presents  from  persons  who 
sought  his  hospitality,  for  he  was  supplied  with  stock 
for  the  purpose  by  the  surrounding  landlords.  He 
possessed  considerable  powers  over  those  who  abode  in  his 
premises  and  attempted  to  injure  the  public  property.1 

These  people  long  before  the  Christian  era  made 
provision  for  the  poor  and  sick  ;  officers  were  appointed 
to  discharge  these  functions.  He  had  large  powers,  and 
was  allowed  under  the  Brehon  Code  to  levy  a  rate  in 
kind  on  landowners  for  the  "  wretched  and  wandering 
poor."  This  officer  is.  described  as  a  "  pillar  of  endur- 
ance," a  truly  Irish  idea  of  a  relieving  officer  ;  he 
was  further  to  suffer  "  the  reddening  of  his  face  with- 
1  "  Brehon  Laws,"  vol.  i.  p.  47 ;  vol.  iv.  pp.  311,  313,  315. 


THE   BREHON   CODE  203 

out  insult  to  his  tribe,"  or  in  other  words  was  not  to 
account  himself  as  being  disgraced  because  he  was 
abused  by  beggars.  Each  tribe  was  chargeable  for 
the  maintenance  of  its  own  "  sick  men  and  women, 
and  for  the  keep  of  those  who  were  incurable."  We 
also  learn  "  with  respect  to  sick  maintenance "  that 
it  included  the  attendance  of  "  a  physician  and  for 
providing  food,  bedding  and  lodging,  and  in  guarding 
the  sick  from  things  prohibited  by  the  physician." 
Careful  provision  was  also  made  for  persons  of  unsound 
mind,  of  the  blind,  and  of  orphans. 

The  physician  was  much  esteemed,  and  we  learn 
from  the  Brehon  Code  that  it  was  not  uncommon  for 
a  tribe  to  make  him  a  grant  of  land,  so  that  he  was 
prevented  from  "  being  disturbed  by  the  cares  and 
anxieties  of  life,  and  enabled  to  devote  himself  to  his 
profession."  1  It  is  stated  that  if  an  unlawful  "  phy- 
sician "  removes  a  joint  or  sinew  without  obtaining  an 
indemnity  against  liability  to  damage,  and  with  notice 
that  he  was  not  a  regular  physician,  he  is  subject  to  a 
penalty  with  compensation  to  the  patient."  2  If  a  man 
was  maliciously  wounded  it  was  the  duty  of  the  physician 
to  certify  the  same  and  on  his  judgment  compensation 
was  awarded. 

These  doctors  appear  to  have  appreciated  the  value 
of  cleanliness,  pure  water  and  free  ventilation  in  the 
treatment  of  the  sick  and  wounded.  The  physician's 
house  was  the  appointed  place  where  sick  and  wounded 
people,  including  chiefs  and  freemen,  were  to  be  cured, 
a  practice  which  was  continued  up  till  the  fifteenth 

1  Keating' s   "History,"    pp.    131,   138,    143;    "Annals  of   Four 
Masters,"  A.M.  3922. 

2  "  Brehon  Laws,"  vol.  iii.  p.  323. 


204  THE   CELTIC   BARDS 

century  in  County  Clare.  The  house  was  in  every  case 
to  be  built  either  on  the  bank  of  a  running  stream,  or 
with  a  stream  passing  through  the  precincts  of  the 
house.  The  building  in  which  the  sick  were  treated 
was  to  be  provided  with  four  doors,  with  the  object  of 
"  allowing  all  that  took  place  within  it  to  be  open  to 
inspection,  and  to  permit  one  door  being  left  open 
whichever  way  the  wind  blew."  The  hot  air  bath 
was  much  employed  for  rheumatism,  and  shampooing 
is  highly  extolled. 

The  Bards  played  an  important  part  in  the  early 
history  of  Ireland ;  they  fixed  the  social  and  political 
relations  of  the-  ruling  and  of  the  tribal  chiefs,  and 
recorded  the  deeds  of  each  and  of  the  sept  to  which 
they  belonged.  The  early  Irish  warriors  received  no 
titles  or  reward  from  the  state,  or  from  their  leaders 
for  services  rendered  in  the  field,  their  reward  con- 
sisted in  having  their  names  honourably  mentioned  by 
the  bards  in  the  annals  of  the  country.  Their  deeds 
were  sung  by  the  bards  and  afforded  a  never-ending 
source  of  delight  to  their  families  and  retainers.  It  is 
true  the  chiefs  were  "assigned  by  the  bards  a  dis- 
tinguishing coat-of-arms,  not  as  a  mark  6f  honour,  but 
whereby  they  might  be  known  from  other  chiefs,  and 
recognised  in  the  field  of  battle  or  at  their  place  of 
residence."  l  The  language  of  the  ancient  Celtic  bards, 
when  translated  'into  English,  seems  inflated,  in  many 
cases  absurd,  but  at  the  time  it  was  employed  it  was 
highly  appreciated.  For  instance,  we  are  informed  that 
about  the  year  A.D.960  a  labourer,  having  been  employed 
for  a  year  in  Galway,  received  for  wages  "  a  cow  and  a 
cloak."  Keturning  home  over  the  hills  of  Echty  he  met 
1  Keating's  "  History,"  p.  143. 


AND   DRUIDS  205 

on  the  road  a  well-known  bard,  and  having  entered 
into  conversation  with  him  and  told  him  the  tribe  to 
which  he  belonged,  the  bard  then  and  there  com- 
posed some  verses  in  favour  of  the  tribe,  which  so 
much  pleased  the  labourer  that  he  at  once  handed 
over  his  year's  wages  to  the  poet,  and  returned  home 
empty-handed,  but  still  remembering  the  lines  he  had 
heard.  This  action,  and  the  gracious  words  contained 
in  the  verse,  so  much  delighted  the  man's  fellow-tribes- 
men, that  they  made  him  a  present  of  "  ten  cows  for 
every  quarter  of  the  cow  he  had  bestowed  on  the  bard.'' 

The  Druids  formed  another  class  of  men  who 
exercised  a  potent  influence  on  the  ancient  Irish, 
claiming  as  they  did  power  to  control  the  spirits 
presiding  over  the  elements  of  nature  as  well  as  those 
of  men.  We  find  that  the  Irish  Druids  were  consulted 
regarding  almost  every  action  men  and  women  undertook, 
and  their  advice  was  strictly  followed  in  all  private  or 
public  affairs ;  they  acted  as  arbitrators  in  disputes, 
and  were  in  the  habit  of  "  placing  a  rod  upon  a  person, 
and  through  means  of  their  wand  could  discover  his 
history." 

The  old  Irish  legends  are  full  of  the  wonders  per- 
formed by  Druids,  but  in  all  this  literature  we  read 
nothing  of  human  sacrifices  ;  they  raised  mists  and 
storms  to  confound  the  enemies  of  the  chiefs  they 
were  attached  to.  They  believed  and  taught  the  idea 
of  the  transmigration  of  the  spirit  of  a  man  in  order 
that  it  might  arrive  at  a  state  fit  to  become  a  part  of 
the  all-pervading  Spirit  of  the  Universe.1 

1  "  Silva  Gadelica,"  by  Standish  H.  O'Grady,  p.  98 ;  also  "  Pagan 
Ireland,"  by  W.  G.  Wood-Martin,  p.  99 ;  and  O'Curry's  "  Manners 
and  Customs  of  the  Early  Irish,"  vol.  ii.  p.  208. 


206  ORIGIN   OP  THE 

As  late  as  the  year  1644  the  inhabitants  of  the 
island  of  Aran  in  Galway  Bay,  worshipped  with 
idolatrous  superstitions  an  idol  or  image  of  their  God, 
Mac  Dara  (Dara  meaning  "oak").  It  was  in  vain 
the  Catholic  clergy  called  on  them  to  desist  from  this 
practice  and  from  swearing  by  Mac  Dara  rather  than 
on  the  Bible. 

It  is  however  certain  that  as  far  back  as  the  year 
A.D.  266  influences  of  a  higher  order  than  those 
referred  to  as  existing  in  Aran  had  come  into  opera- 
tion in  other  parts  of  Ireland.  Thus  Cormac  Mac  Art, 
one  of  the  rulers  of  the  country  and  a  distinguished 
warrior,  having  sustained  an  injury  to  one  of  his  eyes, 
determined  to  resign  his  position  and  devote  the 
remainder  of  his  life,  as  he  stated,  "  to  meditation  and 
the  worship  of  God,  the  Creator  of  Heaven,  and  also 
of  a  place  in  which  the  souls  of  the  wicked  should  be 
justly  punished."  He  further  states  "  that  it  was 
beneath  the  dignity  of  a  rational  being  to  adore  any- 
thing in  the  form  of  an  idol,  but  that  his  prayers 
should  be  directed  to  the  living  Supreme  Being  who 
created  all  things."  Keating  remarks  these  were  this 
chief's  own  words,  recorded  by  himself  in  a  work 
which  existed  in  the  historian's  time ;  but  which,  like 
so  much  other  valuable  material,  has  since  disappeared, 
a  prey  to  the  fire  and  sword  which  has  destroyed  so 
many  of  the  ancient  records  of  that  country.1  Cormac 
had  been  brought  up  by  a  Druid,  and  he  practised 
their  art,  for  he  undertook  to  cure  one  of  his  friends 
of  leprosy  by  means  of  magic. 

In  connection  with  Cormac  Mac  Art  the  following- 
anecdote  gives  us  an  idea  of  the  times  in  which  he 

1  Keating's  "  History  of  Ireland,"  O'Connor's  edition,  p.  283. 


CELTIC   RACE  207 

lived  (A.D.  227  to  266);  when  a  youth  he  was  at  his 
uncle's  court  at  Tara.  It  appears  that  sheep  had 
strayed  into  the  Queen's  garden  and  eaten  some  of  the 
vegetables;  the  case  was  brought  before  the  King  and 
he  adjudged  the  sheep  to  the  plaintiff  in  lieu  of  the 
trespass  and  damage  done.  Young  Cormac  hearing 
the  sentence  came  forward  and  stated  openly,  that 
the  judgment  would  have  been  more  equitable  if  the 
shearing  of  the  sheep  had  been  ordered  in  damage  of 
the  green  stuff  cropped  ;  for  he  said  the  stuff  will 
grow  again,  and  so  will  the  wool  upon  the  sheep.1 

The  soil  had  evidently  been  prepared  by  St 
Ailbe,  Declan,  and  Palladius,  for  the  coming  of 
St  Patrick  who  arrived  in  Ireland  about  the  year 
A.D.  432.  The  place  of  his  birth  is  uncertain,  but  he 
had  been  carried  a  prisoner  into  Ireland  as  a  youth 
and  employed  by  his  master  to  tend  sheep.  He 
remained  in  this  service  for  six  years,  and  during  that 
time  must  have  learnt  the  language  spoken  by  the 
people  ;  he  then  escaped  from  Ireland,  and  after  much 
suffering  and  a  long  probation  he  returned  to  that 
country  as  a  bishop.2  He  appears  to  have  built  up 
the  Irish  Celtic  church  on  the  tribal  and  family 
system  he  found  in  Ireland ;  and  so  long  as  the 
superstitions  and  ideas  of  the  people  were  not  at 
variance  with  the  spirit  of  Christianity  he  seems  to 
have  wisely  left  them  alone. 

We  have  now,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  nature  of 
their  instinctive  or  hereditary  dispositions,  to  deter- 
mine the  race  or  races  of  people  from  which  the 

1  "  Silva  Gadelica,"  p.  367. 

2  "  The  Tripartite  Life  of  St  Patrick,"  by  Whitley  Stokes,  Intro- 
duction, p.  cxli. 


208  THE   CELTS 

Irish  Celts  were  derived  ;  if  we  can  arrive  at  a 
reliable  conclusion  on  this  subject,  it  will  be  our 
object  to  show  that  the  conduct  of  these  people  for 
a  long  period  of  time  was  dominated  by  their  inherent 
personal  characters. 

The  earliest  human  inhabitants  of  Ireland,  like 
those  of  the  southern  and  central  part  of  Europe, 
consisted  of  what  is  known  as  the  Iberian  or  Mediter- 
ranean stock.  They  were  a  long-skulled  (dolecho- 
cephalic),  small,  brunet  people,  with  brown  or  grey 
eyes,  and  dark  curly  hair,  a  type  to  be  still  found  in 
considerable  numbers  among  the  inhabitants  of  County 
Clare.1  The  chipped  flint  instruments  used  by  these 
people  are  found  in  post-glacial  deposits  over  various 
parts  of  Ireland,  and  some  of  their  skulls  and  other 
parts  of  their  skeletons  have  been  discovered  in  that 
country,  as  well  as  in  England  and  many  parts  of  the 
continent  of  Europe.2  These  people  are  probably 
best  represented  at  the  present  time  by  the  inhabitants 
of  the  coast  line  of  Catalonia  northward  along  the 
Gulf  of  Lyons  and  the  valley  of  the  Rhone.  The 
predominant  features  in  their  character  is  its  marked 
instinctive  qualities,  the  emotional  side  of  their  nature 
being  very  pronounced ;  they  are  frequently  referred 
to  in  the  ancient  legends  of  Ireland  as  being  a 
treacherous  race ;  when  we  first  meet  with  them  in 
the  west  of  Ireland  they  had  emerged  from  their 
primitive  state  and  developed  into  tribes  under  the 
leadership  of  a  chief,  who  for  long  resisted  the  Celtic 
invaders  of  Ireland. 

1  "  A  Short  History  of  the  Irish  People,"  by  Professor  Richey,  p.  26. 

2  "  Origin  and  Character  of  the  British  People,"  by  N.  C.  Mac- 
namara,  p.  183  ;   also  "  The  Races  of  Europe,"  by  Z.  Ripley,  p.  53. 


THE   CELTS  209 

The  question  is,  who  were  these  so-called  Celts  and 
where  did  they  come  from  ?  Our  opinion  is,  they 
were  an  offshoot  of  the  ancient  Aryan  stock,  doubtless 
modified  to  some  extent  by  climate  and  the  intermixing 
with  other  races  of  men  during  their  slow  migration 
from  Asia  into  the  west  of  Europe.  The  home  of  this 
race  was  probably  on  the  mountain  ranges  which 
extend  north  and  south  of  Kokan.  These  Aryans 
spread  east  and  west,  the  latter  branch  ultimately 
reaching  the  British  Isles,  and  the  south-eastern 
branch  extending  into  India. 

The  Aryans  were  a  vigorous  hardy  race,  tall,  fair, 
and  evidently  originally  reared  in  a  bracing  atmosphere. 
They  possessed,  like  the  Iberiaus,  long  skulls  (dolecho- 
cephalic),  they  buried  their  dead  chiefs  in  the  long 
dolmens  or  temple  tombs  scattered  over  Ireland, 
England,  and  most  of  the  other  countries  of  Europe, 
where  their  skeletons  and  the  stone  implements  they 
used  are  still  found.  They  spoke  an  inflected  language, 
the  vestiges  of  which  exist  in  the  Erse,  Manx  and 
Gallic  tongues. 

The  Aryans  appear  to  have  been  an  imaginative 
race  of  beings,  given  to  the  study  of  astronomy  ;  they 
worshipped  a  Supreme  Being,  a  power  more  or  less 
manifest  to  their  senses  in  the  various  phenomena  of 
nature.  The  spirits  of  the  departed,  they  held, 
possessed  power  over  the  actions  of  the  living.  It 
was  in  this  belief  they  placed  their  dead  in  tombs 
in  which  sacrifices  could  be  made  to  propitiate  the 
departed  spirit  of  the  dead. 

The  Aryans,  when  they  entered  India,  were  led  by 
their   king  and    rulers   of    their    tribes;    each    tribe 
having  its  own  chief,  who,  like  the  king,  was  elected 
o 


210  HEREDITARY   CHARACTER 

from  among  the  living  descendants  of  the  progenitor 
of  the  tribe.  The  tribe  consisted  of  a  number  of 
families,  each  of  them  having  its  own  head,  and  all 
bound  to  the  chief  of  the  tribe  by  consanguinity. 
Each  tribe,  therefore,  formed  an  organised  society  in 
itself,  and  for  all  practical  purposes  was  independent, 
making  war  or  peace  with  its  neighbours  according 
to  its  own  will.  But  in  times  of  national  danger  the 
king,  as  head  of  an  assemblage  of  tribes,  could  command 
the  services  of  a  large  following.  The  whole  system, 
from  the  king  to  the  head  of  the  family,  tended 
to  promote  particularisation  of  individuals,  and  this 
led  to  rivalry  and  to  constant  war  among  the  various 
chiefs  and  tribes.  This  fact  was  manifested  among 
the  Celts  of  India,  for  they  had  no  sooner  overcome 
the  aborigines  of  the  country  than  they  divided  the 
Jand  into  tribal  and  personal  estates,  and  then  com- 
menced to  fight  with  one  another,  each  chief  claiming 
possession  of  his  neighbour's  property. 

It  would  appear  from  the  ancient  legends  of  Ireland 
that  the  country  was  invaded  in  pre-historic  times  by 
a  people  who  answer  to  the  description  of  the  Aryans. 
They  were  said  to  have  arrived  in  vessels  from  the 
south-west  of  Europe,  and  to  have  landed  in  the  south 
of  Ireland,  but  they  were  defeated  and  driven  out  of 
the  country  by  its  Iberian  inhabitants. 

At  the  close  of  what  is  known  as  the  neolithic 
period  we  find  a  race  of  broad-skulled  (brachy- 
cephalic)  people  had  passed  from  Asia  into  Europe  and 
had  settled  among  its  Iberio-Aryan  population.  With 
the  advent  of  this  race  in  the  west,  bronze  implements 
came  into  use,  and  supplanted  in  the  course  of  time 
stone  implements.  This  broad-skulled  race  was  of  a 


OF  THE   CELTS  211 

Mongoloid  type ;  they  had  discovered  how  to  make 
bronze  out  of  a  mixture  of  copper  and  tin.  This  latter 
metal  as  an  alluvial  deposit  was  rare  in  Europe  but 
abundant  in  parts  of  Asia,  the  consequence  was  this 
Mongolian  race  became  indispensible  as  traders  in 
bronze  to  the  rest  of  Europe,  and  ultimately  formed  an 
important  element  in  the  constitution  of  the  people 
inhabiting  central  and  eastern  Europe.  They  spread 
through  the  south  of  France  to  the  Atlantic,  and 
were  largely  dispersed  throughout  the  south  of  England 
and  Ireland.  From  an  anthropological  point  of  view 
these  people  constitute  the  only  true  Celts,  but  this 
term  had  before  the  year  1865  been  almost  invariably 
applied  to  the  tall  blonde  people,  who  as  we  have 
stated,  were  of  Aryan  descent,  and  it  is  now  very 
difficult  to  break  away  from  this  terminology.  We 
shall  therefore  still  continue  to  apply  the  term  Irish 
Celt  to  this  latter  race  represented  at  the  present  time 
in  considerable  numbers  among  the  inhabitants  of  the 
French  districts  of  Dordoyn,  Geronde,  and  Charente. 
Caesar  seems  to  have  referred  to  the  progenitors  of 
these  people  as  "  those  who  in  their  own  language  are 
called  Celts,  in  ours  Gauls."  Monsieur  Thierry,  the 
historian  of  the  Gallic  Celts,  and  Professor  Mommsen 
in  his  "  History  of  Rome,"  from  a  close  study  of  the 
history  of  this  race  have  arrived  at  the  following 
conclusions  regarding  the  hereditary  character  possessed 
by  these  people. 

MOMMSEN.  THIERRY. 

1.  "  The  whole  ancient  world  1.  "  Personal    bravery   un- 
presents  no  more  genuine  knight."  equalled  among  ancient  nations." 

2.  "  Incapacity    to    attain    or  2.  "  Marked  dislike  to  the  idea 
even  to  tolerate  any  organisation,  of  discipline  and  order." 

either  military  or  political." 


212  HEREDITARY  CHARACTER 

MOMMSEN.  THIERRY. 

3.  "  Laziness  in  culture  of  the  3.   "  Want  of  perseverance." 
fields." 

4.  "  Love  of  ostentation."  4.   "  Extreme  ostentation." 

5.  "  Extravagant  credulity."  •  5.   "  Open  to  all  impressions." 
G.   '"  Inclination  to  rise  in  re-         0.   "  Perpetual  dissensions." 

volt     under     the     first     chance 
leader." 

7.  "  Irresolute  and  fervid."  7.  "  Extreme   susceptibility  ; 

impetuous,  and  excessively  vain." 

8.  "  Clever."  8.   "  Remarkably  intelligent." 

9.  "  A  delight  in  singing  and         9.   "  A  free  spirit." 
a  talent  for  poetry  and  rhetoric." 

10.  "  In    a    political    point    of         10.   "  As  a  nation  the  personal 
view    thoroughly    useless    as    a     sentiment,   the  idea   of  self,   far 
nation."  too  much  developed." 

Mommsen  adds  that  the  Celt  was  remarkable  for 
"  his  childlike  piety,  unsurpassed  fervour  of  national 
feeling,  and  the  closeness  with  which  those  who  are 
fellow-countrymen  cling  together,  almost  like  one 
family,  in  opposition  to  a  stranger."  l 

Dr  Richey,  who  was  Professor  of  Feudal  and  English 
Law  in  the  University  of  Dublin,  and  to  whose 
admirable  "  History  of  the  Irish  People "  we  are  so 
much  indebted  for  our  knowledge  on  this  subject, 
states  that,  in  his  opinion,  the  admitted  failure  of  the 
Celtic  race  is  not  so  much  attributable  to  the  inferiority 
of  their  organisation,  as  to  the  fact  of  their  possessing 
a  highly  organised  and  sensitive  disposition.  They 
are  therefore  extremely  susceptible  of  emotions  and 
perceptions,  and  apt  to  arrive  at  rapid  conclusions, 
which  are  not  always  lasting.  They  shrink  against 
the  staying  power  of  the  Teutonic  race,  the  Celt's  ideas 
being  too  often  matured  before  the  Saxon  has  mastered 
even  the  premises  on  which  his  opinions  are  founded. 
1  Mommsen,  "  History  of  Rome,"  vol.  iv.  p.  280. 


OF  THE   CELTS  213 

The  stolid,  persevering,  and  fixed  purpose  of  the  Saxon 
has  and  must  prevail  over  the  light-hearted,  sensitive, 
and  comparatively  indolent  Celt.1  Dr  Richey,  like 
Mommsen,  dilates  on  the  remarkably  tenacious  feeling 
which  the  Celt  has  for  his  fellow-countrymen,  his 
family,  and,  when  they  existed,  for  his  chiefs  ;  and 
the  Rev.  Dr  Todd,  in  his  ''Life  of  St  Patrick,"  observes 
that  the  "  keynote  of  Irish  history  is  the  spirit  of 
clanship  among  Irishmen,  together  with  adhesion  to 
ancient  traditions." 

From  a  general  description  of  the  kind  to  which  we 
have  above  referred,  we  may  give  an  example  of  the 
character  displayed  by 'a  Celtic  chief,  who  must  have 
flourished  in  Gaul  about  the  time  of  the  second  inroad 
of  Ireland  by  people  of  this  race. 

Cnesar  having  invaded  Gaul  from  the  south,  and  the 
Germans  from  the  east,  the  Celts  were  almost  com- 
pletely subjugated.  In  the  year  B.C.  53  there  was 
little  left  of  them  beyond  Brittany,  and  there,  under 
the  leadership  of  one  of  their  chiefs,  Acco,  they  for 
some  time  resisted  the  Romans.  But  at  length  their 
last  stronghold,  Veneti,  fell ;  Acco  was  taken  prisoner 
and  executed  by  the  Romans.  This  act  was  sufficient 
to  rouse  the  whole  Celtic  people  to  revolt,  and  they 
elected  Vercingetoria  as  their  chief.  He,  despairing 
of  defeating  the  Romans  in  the  open  field,  determined 
to  mobilise  a  large  force  of  cavalry,  and  by  its  means 
destroy  the  enemy's  supply  of  food,  and  to  cut  off  his 
means  of  communication  with  Italy.  Vercingetoria 
abandoned  all  weak  places  of  defence  and  concentrated 
his  efforts  on  strengthening  those  points  he  believed 
he  could  hold  with  success.  In  this  way  he  defended 
1  A.  G.  Richey,  pp.  30,  32. 


214  HEREDITARY   CHARACTER 

Bourges,  inflicting  terrible  losses  on  the  Eomans.  For 
some  time  Caesar's  position  in  Gaul  was  extremely 
precarious.  He  failed  to  capture  Gergoria,  although 
he  was  himself  in  command  of  the  siege  operations. 
This  defeat,  the  first  Csesar  in  person  had  ever  suffered, 
gave  great  encouragement  to  the  Celts.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Eomans  became  disheartened,  and,  at  a 
Council  of  War,  Cassar  was  advised  to  retire  into 
Italy.  This  he  refused  to  do  ;  and,  by  a  rapid  con- 
centration of  his  army  and  enormous  personal  exertions, 
he  at  length  succeeded  in  shutting  up  Vercingetoria 
and  a  large  portion  of  his  army  in  the  fortified  town 
of  Alesia.  The  Eomans  invested  the  place  for  ten 
miles  and  completely  cut  off  the  supplies  of  the 
80,000  men  within  its  walls.  Vercingetoria  dismissed 
his  cavalry,  and  they  managed  to  make  their  way 
through  the  Roman  lines,  and  although  250,000 
Celts  collected  for  the  relief  of  Alesia,  the  Eomans  had 
in  the  meantime  rendered  their  position  impregnable. 
Alesia  fell,  and  with  it  the  Celtic  nation.  The 
defeated  Celts  were  allowed  to  disperse  because 
Vercingetoria  refused  to  take  flight,  but  decided  in  a 
Council  of  War,  that,  since  he  had  not  succeeded  in 
breaking  off  the  alien  yoke,  he  was  ready  to  give 
himself  up  as  a  victim,  and  to  avert  as  far  as  possible 
the  destruction  of  his  people,  by  bringing  it  on  his  own 
head.  This  was  done.  The  Celtic  officers  delivered 
their  chief — the  solemn  choice  of  the  whole  nation — 
to  the  enemy  of  their  country  for  such  punishment  as 
might  be  thought  fit.  Mounted  on  his  steed,  in  full 
armour,  the  Chief  appeared  before  the  Eoman  pro- 
consul and  rode  round  his  tribunal ;  then  he  sur- 
rendered his  horse  and  arms,  and  sat  down  in  silence 


OF   THE   CELTS  215 

at  Caesar's  feet.  Five  years  afterwards  he  was  led  in 
triumph  through  the  streets  of  Rome,  and  while  his 
conqueror  was  offering  solemn  thanks  to  the  gods  on 
the  summit  of  the  capital,  Vercingetoria  was  beheaded 
at  the  base  of  the  hill.  Mommsen  adds,  "  as  after  a 
day  of  gloom  the  sun  breaks  through  the  clouds  at  its 
setting,  so  destiny  bestows  on  nations  in  their  decline 
a  last  great  man.  The  whole  ancient  world  presents 
no  more  genuine  knight  than  Vercingetoria,  the  Celtic 
Chief."1 

1  Mommsen,  "  History  of  Rome,"  vol.  iv.  p.  280. 


CHAPTER    II 

As  we  have  explained  in  the  previous  chapter,  the 
earliest  inhabitants  of  Ireland  were  derived  from  an 
Iberian  stock  ;  subsequently  people  known  as  Celts 
invaded  that  country.  It  was  not,  however,  until  the 
end  of  the  fourth  century  that  the  Celts  under  a 
leader  named  Lughaid  Menn  subjugated  the  Iberian 
inhabitants  of  that  part  of  Ireland,  then  known  as 
Thomond,  but  which  is  now  included  in  County 
Clare. 

Tradition  states  that  Lughaid  Menn  was  directly 
descended  from  a  Celtic  chief  named  Angus,  who  with 
his  followers  had  passed  over  from  Gaul  into  the 
south  of  Ireland.  According  to  our  theory,  therefore, 
Lughaid  should  have  inherited  to  the  full  the  traits  of 
personal  character  which  we  have  described  as  being 
common  to  the  Celtic  race  (p.  211).  In  the  following 
chapter  we  have  to  ascertain  if  the  actions  displayed 
by  this  chief  and  by  his  direct  descendants  substan- 
tiate our  theory,  and  demonstrate  the  existence  of 
these  characters  in  the  lives  and  conduct  of  these 
individuals  and  of  their  followers. 

It  may  be  well,  however,  in  the  first  place,  to  show 
how  Lughaid  came  to  be  the  leader  of  the  Celtic  tribe 
known  as  the  Dalcasians ;  the  legends  concerning  him 
also  afford  us  an  insight  into  the  character  and  the 
conditions  under  which  the  people  of  the  West  of 
Ireland  existed  in  the  fourth  century  of  our  era, 

216 


THE   IRISH   CELTS  217 

The  Province  of  Minister  was  governed  by  the  chief 
above  mentioned,  named  Angus,  from  about  the  year 
184  A.D.  to  234  A.D.,  his  eldest  son,  Eoghan,  and  six  of 
his  brothers  were  killed  in  a  battle  fought  against  their 
half-brother  Mac-Con,  in  spite,  as  the  historian  states,  of 
their  having  all  been  "  nursed  on  the  same  knee,  and 
at  the  same  breast."  Mac  Con  appears  to  have  been  a 
delicate,  peevish  child,  and,  when  nothing  else  would 
pacify  him,  those  under  whose  care  he  was,  brought 
the  boy  to  Angus'  favourite  wolf-hound,  who  was  so 
tender  and  fond  of  children  that  young  Mac  Con  and 
the  hound  became  fast  friends,  so  much  so  that  he 
received  the  name  of  Mac  Con  (son  of  a  hound). 
When  Mac  Con  had  grown  to  manhood  he  was 
entrusted  with  certain  duties  by  his  step-father,  and, 
having  failed  in  his  trust,  he  was  banished  by  the 
king  from  Minister.  He  sought  refuge  with  the 
King  of  Scotland  without  revealing  his  name  and 
position,  and  was  received  on  friendly  terms.  One 
day  some  Irishmen  arrived  in  the  Scotch  king's 
presence  while  he  and  Mac  Con  were  engaged  in  a 
game  of  chess  ;  Mac  Con  questioned  the  strangers  as 
to  the  state  of  affairs  in  Ireland,  and  then  turned  the 
conversation  to  that  of  his  own  family  in  Minister. 
"Oh  ! "  said  the  strangers,  "  with  them  nothing  goes 
well ;  they  are  under  the  bondage  of  women  ; "  upon 
hearing  this  remark,  Mac  Con  seized  some  of  the 
heavy  chessmen  he  was  playing  with  and  flung  them 
at  the  strangers.  "  A  fit  of  affection,"  exclaimed  the 
King  of  Scotland  ;  "  it  is  evident  to  whom  you  belong." 
Mac  Con  then  related  his  history  to  the  king,  and 
sought  his  help  to  regain  his  position  in  Ireland. 
The  king  accepted  this  obligation,  and,  having  obtained 


218  HEREDITARY   CHARACTER 

help  from  Britain,  they  assembled  "  what  there  were 
of  ships  and  galleys  and  barges  in  the  coast  of  Britain 
and  Saxonland,  so  that  they  filled  the  King  of 
Scotland's  ports." l  The  troops  on  board  these 
vessels  were  placed  under  the  command  of  Mac  Con, 
and  Beine,  a  Prince  of  Wales.  The  army  landed  in 
Ireland  near  the  site  of  the  present  town  of  Galway. 
The  monarch  of  Ireland,  hearing  of  the  invasion  of 
his  country,  joined  his  forces  with  those  of  Angus, 
and  the  allies,  led  by  Eoghan  (Angus'  eldest  son) 
and  six  of  his  brothers,  marched  to  resist  their  step- 
brother Mac  Con  and  his  allies.  In  the  battle 
which  ensued,  not  only  was  the  King  of  Ireland  killed, 
but  also  Eoghan  and  his  brothers.  So  crushing  a 
defeat  was  at  once  taken  advantage  of  by  Mac  Con, 
who  proceeded  to  Tara  and  caused  himself  to  be 
proclaimed  monarch  of  the  country.  He  adopted  the 
son  of  the  former  king,  and  this  lad  subsequently 
became  the  famous  Cormac  Mac  Art. 

Before  his  death  Angus  appointed,  with  the  consent 
of  his  tribe,  one  of  his  remaining  sons,  Cormac  Cas, 
as  his  tanist  or  successor.  At  the  time  Angus  made 
this  arrangement  he  did  not  know  that  his  eldest  son 
had  married  the  daughter  of  a  Druid  the  night  before 
the  battle  in  which  he  was  killed,  and  that  the  result 
of  this  marriage  was  a  son.  So  soon  as  Angus  was 
assured  of  this  fact  he  revoked  his  former  decision, 
and  arranged  that  Cormac  Cas  should  succeed  him ; 
but  he  decided  that,  as  Eoghan  had  a  son,  he  or  his 
heirs  must  succeed  Cormac  as  Chief  of  Minister,  the 
province  being  thus  governed  alternately  by  the 
family  of  Eoghan  and  then  by  the  heirs  of  Cormac 
1  "  Silva  Gadelica,"  by  Standish  Hayes  O'Grady,  p.  352. 


OP  THE   IRISH   CELTS  219 

Oas  "  without  quarrel  or  dispute."  l  The  descendants 
of  Eoghan  formed  the  tribe  of  Eoghanists,  and  the 
descendants  of  Cor  mac  Gas  formed  the  tribe  of  the 
Dalcasians.2 

From  this  history  we  can  understand  how  the 
Dalcasians  came  into  existence  ;  they  were  a  division 
of  the  original  tribe,  of  which  Angus  was  head,  into 
the  Dal-Cas,  or  sons  of  Gas,  forming  one  branch,  and 
the  descendants  of  Eoghan  the  other  branch  of  the 
Dalcasians. 

Lughaid  Menn  left  a  son  called  Connal  whose 
foster-father  was  known  as  Crimthan,  at  that  time 
ruler  of  Ireland  ;  he  belonged  to  the  Eoghanist  division 
of  ruling  families,  and  came  to  occupy  his  high 
position  in  consequence  of  the  rightful  heir  being  at 
the  time  too  young  to  fill  that  office.  Crimthan  was 
an  intrepid  soldier  and  carried  the  Irish  arms  not 
only  into  Scotland  and  England,  but  also  into  the 
heart  of  France,  and  from  all  these  places  he  took 
hostages  and  great  booty.  He  had  no  children,  and 
the  succession  to  the  throne  was  therefore  an  open 
question,  a  fact  which  Crimthan's  sister  hoped  to  turn 
to  the  advantage  of  her  son.  To  compass  her  end 
she  determined  to  poison  her  brother,  though  "it 
should  cost  her  her  own  life  in  doing  this."  Crimthan 
therefore  was  invited  to  Connaught  by  his  sister, 
and  while  there  she  poisoned  his  wine ;  having  first 
drunk  some  of  this  wine,  she  passed  the  cup  to  her 
brother.  They  both  died.  This  deed  made  a  deep 
impression  on  the  Irish,  and  there  can  be  no  mistake 

1  Keating's    "  History   of  Ireland,"    O'Connor's    edition,     1G30, 
p.  234. 

2  O'Curry's  "  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Early  Irish,"  p.  387. 


220  HEREDITARY  CHARACTER 

as  to  the  fact  or  the  year  of  Orirnthan's  death,  A.D. 
378.1 

Connal,  who  was  of  the  Dalcasian  tribe,  being  a 
foster-son  of  Crimthan,  lived  with  his  uncle  from  boy- 
hood, and  the  king  became  so  fond  of  him  that  he 
offered  to  have  him  inaugurated  as  Chief  of  Munster. 
The  men  of  that  province  however  declined  to  accept 
as  their  ruler  a  nominee  of  the  King  of  Ireland  in 
place  of  one  elected  by  themselves,  they  rather  in- 
clined to  select  Core,  a  wise  and  brave  prince,  as  their 
Chief.  Connal  agreed  to  submit  the  question  to 
arbitration,  and  the  case  being  decided  against  him  he 
resigned  all  claim  to  be  ruler  of  Munster,  and  betook 
himself  to  govern  his  own  tribe,  the  Dalcasians  of 
Thomond.  Crimthan  had  such  confidence  in  Connal 
that  he  handed  over  to  his  care  the  many  hostages  he 
had  taken,  because,  we  are  told,  he  felt  that  he  could 
"  rely  on  the  integrity  of  a  prince  who  delivered  up 
the  possession  of  a  crown  that  he  was  able  to  defend, 
for  no  other  reason  but  because  he  had  no  right 
to  it." 

Connal's  eldest  son  was  named  Cas,  and  on  the 
death  of  his  father  he  was  elected  Chief  of  the  Dal- 
casians ;  he  had  twelve  sons  who  became  heads  of 
Septs.  The  lands  constituting  the  province  of  Thomond 
was  allotted  to  these  chiefs  in  proportion  to  their 
importance  ;  a  part  of  the  territory  being  reserved  for 
freemen ;  another  part  to  maintain  the  poor  and  the 
old  and  infirm  of  the  tribe  ;  and  a  part  was  retained 
as  common  land  which  under  certain  provisions  every 
member  of  the  tribe  was  entitled  to  use. 

Cas's  second  son,  called  Caisin,  became  the  first  of 
1  "  Silva  Gadelica,"  p.  375. 


OF  THE   IRISH   CELTS  221 

the  chiefs  of  the  section  of  the  Dalcasian  tribe  known  as 
the  Clancuilein  Sept.  Until  Brian  Boru's  time,  family 
names  were  not  employed  by  the  Irish,  they  were 
recognised  by  names  derived  from  some  peculiarity  of 
their  features,  but  not  unfrequently  from  some  marked 
trait  of  their  personal  character. 

Cas  therefore  was  the  immediate  progenitor  of  the 
Clancuilein  Sept  in  the  same  way  as  Cormac  Cas  was 
of  the  tribe  of  the  Dalcasians  ;  from  his  time  the  office 
had  passed  in  unbroken  succession  through  seven 
generations,  Cas  being  the  last  of  the  seven.  The 
territories  conquered  by  Gas's  father  and  grandfather 
from  the  aborigines  or  Iberians  were  sufficient  to 

O 

allow  of  their  being  partitioned  among  his  sons  as 
tribe  lands  ;  and  in  this  way  the  district  we  now  call 
County  Clare  came  to  be  subdivided  among  the  members 
of  a  Celtic  tribe.  As  time  went  on  the  four  eldest 
sons  of  Cas  migrated  from  their  father's  home  and  had 
lands  assigned  to  them  under  the  provisions  of  the 
Brehon  laws  within  the  boundaries  of  Ui-Cas. 

During  the  three  centuries  following  the  death  of 
Cas  we  hear  very  little  of  Clare  in  the  annals  of 
Ireland,  it  would  seem  that  during  this  period  the 
province  enjoyed  a  period  of  peace  and  prosperity, 
which  was  only  seriously  broken  by  an  invasion  of 
Danes  in  the  ninth  century.  But  it  is  evident  the 
chiefs  of  the  Clancuilein  Sept  maintained  their  position 
as  second  only  to  the  head  of  the  Dalcasians  (O'Briens) 
in  Thomond.  Thus  we  find  in  the  year  A.D.  847  the 
head  of  the  Sept  filled  the  post  of  Marshal  of  the 
Province,  his  office  was  to  inaugurate  the  head  of  the 
tribe  as  King  of  North  Munster  or  Thomond.  The 
office  of  Marshal,  we  are  told,  "  was  a  highly  honour- 


222  HEREDITARY  CHARACTER 

able  one  and  was  hereditary/' l  and  so  far  as  the 
province  of  Thomond  was  concerned  had  been  held  for 
many  generations  by  the  chiefs  of  Clancuilein. 

In  the  year  A.D.  877  an  individual  called  Flan  was 
ruler  of  Ireland  and  demanded  a  tribute  from  the 
Dalcasians  which  they  refused  to  give.  In  spite  of 
the  warning  given  him  by  his  Bard,  Flan  marched  into 
Thomond  and  pitched  his  camp  on  the  sacred  spot  of 
Magh  Adhair.  Having  challenged  one  of  his  followers 
to  a  game  of  chess  they  commenced  to  play,  but  were 
not  allowed  to  complete  the  game  for  the  Clancuilein 
Sept,  headed  by  Sioda  their  chief,  with  a  strong  force 
attacked  Flan  ;  the  King  however  escaped  with  some 
of  his  followers  into  the  neighbouring  forests  ;  after 
three  days'  fighting  he  had  to  surrender  to  Sioda, 
who,  we  are  informed,  treated  Flan  courteously,  fed  his 
followers  abundantly,  and  then  escorted  them  on  their 
way  homewards  as  far  as  the  Shannon. 

The  chief  of  South  Munster  had  selected  Sioda  to 
be  his  successor,  and  the  two  were  on  the  most 
friendly  terms.  Upon  a  certain  occasion,  however, 
Sioda  proceeded  to  Cashel  to  visit  the  chief,  but  on 
arriving  there,  declined  to  enter  the  King's  house  until 
he  had  received  a  formal  invitation  to  do  so.  It  is 
by  casual  references  to  incidents  of  this  kind  that  we 
gain  ideas  as  to  the  personal  character  of  the  early 
Irish  Celtic  chiefs.2 

1  Joyce's  "  Short  History  of  Ireland,"  p.  63. 

2  Matthew  Arnold  remarks  that  Irishmen  are  distinguished  by  an 
"  organism  quick  to  feel  impressions,  and  feeling  them  strongly  ; 
a  lively  personality,  therefore   keenly  sensitive  to  joy  and  sorrow. 
Quick  and  strong  perception  and  emotions  are  to  the  soul  what  the 
senses  are  to  the  body ;    it  means  genius.     But  sensitiveness  must 
not  be  allowed  with  impunity  to  master  the  mind  ;  balance,  measure 


OP  THE   IRISH   CELTS  223 

Keating,  writing  of  this  period,  observes,  that  the 
great  prosperity  of  the  people  of  Ireland  towards  the 
close  of  the  eighth  century  led  many  of  them  to  adopt 
"  corrupt  manners,  vice,  and  profaneness — principally 
among  the  landowners,"  from  which  they  were  sud- 
denly roused  by  the  cruel  hand  of  the  Danes. 

The  expulsion  of  the  Norsemen  from  Ireland  was 
the  work  of  Brian  (Boru)  chief  of  the  Dalcasian  tribe. 
In  his  career,  therefore,  we  obtain  further  evidence 
regarding  the  hereditary  traits  of  character  possessed  by 
one  of  the  Celtic  chiefs  of  western  Ireland ;  characters 
precisely  similar  to  those  displayed  by  his  progenitors. 

The  two  first  expeditions  which  the  Danes  made 
into  the  west  of  Ireland  took  place  A.D.  795  and  801  ; 
on  both  occasions  they  were  repulsed  by  the  Irish.1 
But  from  A.D.  812  to  835  a  great  number  of  Norsemen 
flocked  into  Ireland,  pillaging  and  committing  every 
conceivable  cruelty  on  the  inhabitants  of  the  country. 

Turgesius,  the  leader  of  the  invaders,  became  the 
acknowledged  King  of  the  north  of  Ireland ;  he  hoped 
to  establish  a  strong  government  and  so  to  overcome 
the  discord  arid  anarchy  which  existed  in  the  country ; 
he  also  desired  to  banish  Christianity  from  Ireland  ; 
he  placed  his  wife  to  rule  over  Clonmacnois  :  we  are 
told  that  she  was  accustomed  to  preside  at  the  high 
altar  of  the  principal  Church  of  the  monastery,  and 
work  the  oracles  of  her  religion  from  that  position.2 
In  the  year  A.D.  879  the  Irish  rose  against  Turgesius, 

and  patience,  are  necessary,  and  these  the  Celt  does  not  possess. 
He  is  ever  chafing  against  the  despotism  of  facts,  straining  under  the 
effects  of  emotion  ;  eager  to  enlist  in  the  fray,  but '  always  to  fall.'  " 
— See  "  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Irish,"  vol.  ii.  p.  101. 

1  Keating's  "  History  of  Ireland,"  O'Connor's  edition,  p.  470. 

2  Introduction  to  the  "  Wars  of  the  Gaedhil  with  the  Gael,"  p.  xlviii. 


224  HEREDITARY  CHARACTER 

and  having  killed  him  drove  most  of  his  followers  out 
of  Erin.1 

The  Norsemen  however  soon  returned,  and  the 
west  of  Ireland,  from  the  year  A.D.  890,  was  overrun 
by  them  ;  we  are  informed  that  they  occupied  the 
homes  of  the  Irish,  so  that  the  owners  had  not  even 
power  to  "  give  milk  or  eggs  to  the  sick  or  infirm 
man  ;  the  foreigners  claimed  the  right  over  every- 
thing." The  Norsemen  were  better  armed  than  the 
Irish.  It  was  in  circumstances  of  this  kind  Mahon 
and  his  brother  Brian,  chiefs  of  the  Dalcasian  tribe, 
appeared  on  the  scene.  From  its  geographical  position, 
and  in  consequence  of  the  dense  woods  which  covered 
its  hills  and  plains,  Clare  was  not  so  completely 
occupied  by  the  Norsemen  as  other  parts  of  Ireland. 
At  any  rate  from  the  account  given  in  the  wars  of  the 
Gaedhil  with  the  Gael,  we  learn  that  Mahon  and  Brian, 
with  the  greater  part  of  the  Dalcasians  living  east  and 
south  of  the  Shannon,  crossed  the  river  into  Clare  so 
as  to  escape  from  the  invaders  of  their  country  ;  and 
they  "  dispersed  themselves  among  the  forests  and 
woods  situated  between  Loch  Durge  and  the  Fergus  "  ; 
from  this  locality  the  Irish  proceeded  to  sally  forth  and 
kill  all  the  foreigners  they  could  lay  their  hands  on. 
The  effect  of  these  tactics  was  to  compel  the  Norse- 
men to  concentrate  their  forces  on  the  Shannon,  where 
they  built  a  fort  in  the  district  of  Tradraighe,  which 
was  the  subsequent  site  of  Bunratty  castle.  In  these 
operations  Brian's  forces  suffered  terribly  from  constant 
lighting  and  want  of  food ;  and  his  brother  Mahon, 
hearing  of  his  condition,  urged  submission  to  the 
Norsemen. 

1  Keating,  p.  440. 


OP  THE   IRISH  CELTS  225 

The  Celtic  records  state  that  Brian  absolutely  de- 
clined to  follow  this  advice,  and  taunted  his  brother 
with  cowardice ;  he  is  said  to  have  asked  him  if  he 
thought  their  father  or  their  grandfather  would 
have  made  peace  while  an  enemy  occupied  Ireland. 
Mahon  admitted  all  this,  but  argued  that  if  they 
had  not  the  power  to  resist  the  invaders  it  was 
useless  holding  out  against  the  foe;  he  asked  Brian  if 
he  wished  to  see  the  whole  of  his  tribe  in  the  same 
state  as  his  own  followers.  To  this  Brian  replied 
"  that  such  an  argument  was  bad,  because  it  was 
hereditary  for  him  to  die,  and  for  the  whole  of  the 
Dalcais  likewise,  as  their  fathers  had  passed  away  so 
must  they  ;  but  it  was  not  natural  or  hereditary  for 
the  Dalcais  to  submit  to  insult  or  contempt,  their 
forefathers  had  never  submitted  to  this,  and  no  power 
on  earth  would  make  him  do  so." 1  The  tribe  on 
hearing  this  assembled  to  resist  the  invaders,  and  met 
them  at  Sulcoit  in  Tipperary.  In  this  battle  the  Norse- 
men were  defeated  and  fled  to  Limerick,  which  town 
Brian  took,  and  destroyed  its  fortifications,  inflicting 
great  loss  and  injury  to  the  enemy,  A.D.  968.2  This 
victory  added  greatly  to  the  prestige  of  the  Dalcasians, 
so  much  so  that  the  Eoghanites  (p.  218),  or  rather 
their  chief  Malloy,  murdered  Mahon  (A.D.  976).  Brian 
was  not  slow  to  avenge  his  brother's  death ;  he  first 
sent  a  challenge  to  Malloy  to  meet  him  in  single 
combat,  and  directed  his  messenger  to  add,  that  noth- 
ing short  of  the  death  of  one  of  them  would  suffice. 
Keceiving  no  satisfactory  answer,  Brian  inarched  his 
followers  into  South  Munster  and  met  Malloy,  a  battle 

1  "  Wars  of  Gaedhil  and  the  Gael,"  p.  61. 

2  "  Annals  of  Innisf alien  "  (MS.,  British  Museum), 
P 


226          THE  HEREDITARY  CHARACTER 

ensued,  in  which  that  chief  was  killed  by  one  of  Brian's 
sons.  In  the  year  A.D.  977,  Brian,  assisted  by  the 
Clancuilein  Sept,  stormed  the  Island  of  Scattery, 
driving  the  Norsemen  he  found  there  into  their  ships, 
and  completely  cleared  the  district  of  Thomond  from 
the  invaders. 

Brian 1  was  now  proclaimed  King  of  Minister,  but 
Malachy,  who  at  the  time  was  King  of  Leinster,  seeing 
the  rising  power  of  Brian,  determined  to  assert  his 
own  position  as  monarch  of  the  country  ;  he  therefore 
entered  Thomond  and  pitched  his  camp  on  and  around 
Magh  Adhair,  he  uprooted  the  sacred  oak-tree  which 
grew  on  this  mound  (A.D.  982).2  This  was  followed 
by  a  succession  of  battles  between  Brian  and  Malachy 
until  at  length  the  latter  solicited  help  from  the 
Danes  who  still  occupied  Dublin.  Brian  however 
overcame  the  confederates  and  then  sacked  Dublin, 
carrying  off  a  vast  amount  of  treasure  to  his  home  at 
Kincora. 

Brian  (A.D.  1002),  became  the  supreme  ruler  over 
Ireland  arid  received  tribute  in  the  form  of  live  stock 
and  agricultural  produce  from  all  the  chiefs  of  his 
country ;  their  order  was  fixed  at  Brian's  table,  and 
behind  each  seat  we  are  told  the  chief's  arms  were 
suspended.3  The  tables  were  covered  with  gold- 
mounted  cups  ;  the  food  consisted  of  beef,  pork,  game, 
fish,  oat- cakes,  cheese,  curds,  onions  and  watercress ; 

1  Brian  received   the  name  Boru  or  Boroimhe  because  he  revived 
the  payment  of  the  tribute  or  tax  known  as  the  Boromean  Tribute 
which  had  been  abolished  since  A.D.  680.     See  "  Manners  and  Customs 
of  the  Ancient  Irish,"  p.  231. 

2  "  Annals  of  Innisf alien,"  and  "  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters." 

3  O'Curry,  "  Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Irish,"  vol.  ii. 
p.  127. 


OP  THE   IRISH   CELTS  227 

wine,  beer,  and  mead,  together  with  the  bilberry-juice. 
The  food  seems  to  have  been  cooked  in  the  dining- 
hall.1 

Brian  also  gave  surnames  to  the  principal  families 
of  Ireland  with  the  object  of  "  avoiding  confusion,  and 
that  their  genealogies  might  be  better  preserved." 
The  family  name  given  to  the  members  of  the 
Clancuilein  Sept  was  Mac-con-mara. 

Kincora  became  Brian's  place  of  residence  situated 
on  the  heights  overlooking  the  Shannon  from  the 
Clare  side  of  the  river  ;  a  wooden  bridge  at  this  time 
crossed  the  site  of  what  had  been  a  ford.  The  houses 
were  built  of  timber  and  clay  and  extended  along  the 
bank  of  the  river  ;  there  were  two  churches  one  of 
which  still  exists.  It  is  unnecessary  for  us  to  do 
more  than  refer  to  the  fact  that  Brian  took  to  wife  a 
female  called  Gormnaith,  who  had  already  been  mar- 
ried, first,  to  the  leader  of  the  Norsemen  and  then  to 
Malachy.  This  marriage  on  the  part  of  Brian  therefore 
would  seem  to  have  been  of  a  political  character ; 
however  this  may  be,  Brian  and  Gormflaith  quarrelled, 
and  she  fled  back  to  Dublin  to  incite  the  Danes  and 
Norsemen  to  rise  against  Brian. 

Although  in  his  seventy-third  year  of  age,  Brian  was 
still  vigorous  enough  to  make  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments to  meet  his  enemies ;  and  he  determined  to 
stake  his  cause,  and  that  of  his  country,  on  the  issue 
of  a  single  battle ;  Brian  however  felt  it  beyond  his 
power  to  do  more  than  collect  and  take  his  army  into 
the  field,  for  a  commander  in  those  days  had  not 
only  to  lead  his  men,  but  also  to  fight  hand  to  hand 

1  "  Killaloe,"  by  T.  J.  Westropp  (Journ.  Ry.  Ant.  of  Ireland,  1892, 
p.  404). 


228          THE  HEREDITARY  CHARACTER 

in  the  thick  of  the  battle,  especially  at  weak  points, 
Brian  therefore  left  the  command  of  the  army  to  his 
son  Morrogh. 

Every  man  of  Brian's  family  marched  with  him 
towards  Dublin,  among  them  his  grandson  Turlough, 
a  youth  of  sixteen  years  of  age,  who  was  his  father's 
(Morrogh)  standard-bearer. 

These  leaders  were  surrounded  by  Dalcasians,  "  the 
children  of  Gas,"  Clancuileins,  led  by  their  chiefs, 
among  them  Keating  mentions  Menma  Mac-con-mara, 
From  the  "  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters "  we  learn 
that  Menma  died  A.D.  1015,  so  that  he  must  have 
been  one  of  the  few  chiefs  who  survived  the  battle  of 
Clontarf. 

On  the  morning  of  Good  Friday,  April  23,  1014, 
the  Irish  army  took  up  their  position  on  the  field  of 
battle  ;  the  Dalcasians  with  Morrogh  as  their  leader 
held  the  van,  the  centre  was  formed  of  South  Munster 
Septs,  and  the  rear  by  those  from  Connaught.  The 
Norsemen  and  Danes  under  their  leader,  together  with 
their  Irish  allies,  formed  a  line  extending  along  the 
shore  of  Clontarf  with  their  backs  to  the  sea.  Many 
of  the  Danes  were  clad  in  armour,  but  the  Irish  were 
dressed  in  their  linen  tunics,  and  were  armed  with 
spears,  swords  and  axes.  No  horsemen  were  engaged 
on  either  side,  and  each  army  numbered  about  20,000 
men.  Every  man  appears  to  have  fought  on  his  own 
account,  those  in  the  rear  taking  the  place  of  those  in 
front  who  were  killed  or  disabled.  And  so  they  fought 
throughout  the  day  without  interruption.  Towards 
the  evening  the  Irish  made  a  final  effort  and  carried 
all  before  them  ;  the  Danes  and  their  allies  were  com- 
pletely vanquished  and  fled  from  the  field  of  battle. 


OF  THE   IRISH   CELTS  229 

Brian,  although  unable  to  lead  his  army,  watched 
its  movements  from  a  distance  throughout  the  day. 
We  are  told  that  his  attention  was  constantly  fixed  on 
the  standard  of  his  son  Morrogh,  for  as  long  as  he  saw 
it  carried  aloft  he  felt  sure  all  was  well  with  the  Irish. 
Towards  evening  Morrogh's  banner  disappeared.  At 
first  Brian  tried  to  persuade  himself  that  it  was  his 
faulty  sight  and  anxious  watching  that  prevented  him 
from  recognizing  his  son's  standard,  but  when  the 
truth  came  home  to  him  the  old  man's  grief  was 
extreme,  he  could  no  longer  watch  the  battle ;  he  was 
urged  to  retire  but  refused  to  leave  the  spot,  for  he 
declared  that  Aoibhel  of  Cragliath  had  appeared  to 
him  the  night  before  and  told  him  this  was  to  be  his 
last  day.  Some  of  the  Danes  in  their  flight  from 
Clontarf  came  to  the  spot  where  Brian  was,  and 
recognising  him,  overpowered  and  killed  the  old 
man. 

Morrogh  after  fighting  throughout  the  day,  found 
his  hands  so  much  swollen  that  he  was  unable  any 
longer  to  grasp  his  battle-axe,  in  this  condition  he 
was  wounded  mortally  in  the  side,  and  died  the  fol- 
lowing day. 

Young  Turlough  fought  with  his  father,  and  after 
the  latter  had  received  his  mortal  wound,  seems  to 
have  pursued  the  Dane  who  inflicted  the  blow  to  the 
banks  of  the  river,  where  the  lad's  body  was  found,  his 
hands  entangled  in  the  long  hair  of  his  enemy. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  not  less  than  a 
quarter  of  the  Irish  army  were  left  dead  on  the  field 
of  Clontarf,  and  among  their  number  were  included 
many  Dalcasian  chiefs.  The  result  of  this  action, 
however,  was  the  complete  annihilation  of  the  power 


230  THE   EARLY   IRISH  CELTS 

of  the  Danes  and  other  Norsemen  in  Ireland,  a  power 
they  never  again  attempted  to  regain. 

After  the  death  of  Brian  Bom  dissensions  arose 
between  two  of  his  sons  as  to  the  right  of  succession, 
which  ended  in  the  election  of  a  grandson  of  Brian's 
named  Donough  to  be  the  ruler  of  the  Province  of 
Munster.  During  succeeding  years  we  read  of  nothing 
but  fighting  between  the  various  rulers  of  Ireland, 
and  of  the  plunder  and  burning  of  towns  and  monastic 
establishments.  In  all  this  turmoil  the  Clancuilein 
Sept  and  their  chiefs  are  frequently  referred  to  as 
taking  a  leading  part  in  repelling  attacks  made  by 
the  rulers  of  Leinster  and  Connaught  on  Munster. 
Donough  at  length  became  weary  of  the  strife,  and 
was  too  old  to  take  part  in  it ;  he  consequently  retired, 
and  proceeded  to  Koine  where  he  died  in  the  monastery 
of  St  Stephen,  A.D.  1064.  He  had  indeed  been  beset 
with  difficulties,  for  we  are  informed  that  in  con- 
sequence of  "  much  inclement  weather  in  Ireland,  its 
corn,  milk,  fruit,  and  fish  were  destroyed,  and  the 
people  grew  dishonest,  there  was  no  safety  for  any 
one."  In  these  circumstances  a  council  was  assembled 
at  Killaloe,  and  we  are  told  that  laws  were  then 
enacted  "  to  restrain  every  injustice,  great  and  small ; 
and  in  consequence  God  gave  peace  and  favourable 
weather." 

A  petition  was  presented  to  Anselm,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  A.D.  1070,  by  the  inhabitants  of  Waterford 
asking  him  to  consecrate  a  monk  of  Winchester  to  fill 
the  office  of  bishop  of  that  city.  It  appears  the 
Celtic  Church  in  Ireland  up  to  the  eleventh  century 
depended  on  their  own  bishops,  native^  of  the  country, 
to  administer  the  affairs  of  their  Church,  which,  as 
\ 


AND   LAND   TENURE  231 

before  stated,  had  been  established  by  St  Patrick  and 
his  immediate  followers  upon  the  tribal  system. 
Bishops,  however,  were  changed  without  order  or  regu- 
larity, and  multiplied  to  such  an  extent  that  at  one 
time,  it  is  said,  there  were  700  bishops  living  in 
Ireland.  The  Irish  monks,  like  their  tribal  chiefs, 
were  constantly  fighting  with  one  another.  Lanfranc, 
referring  to  these  and  other  irregularities  of  ecclesiastics 
in  Ireland,  states  that  men  in  Ireland  left  their  wives 
without  any  canonical  cause,  married  others,  although 
near  in  blood  to  themselves  or  to  the  deserted  wives. 
They  even  exchanged  wives.  Holy  orders,  he  states, 
were  given  to  Celtic  bishops  for  money,  infants  were 
not  baptized,  nor  matrimony  nor  consecration  per- 
formed according  to  the  Roman  canon.  The  Archbishop 
affirms  that  all  this  wrong  was  done  in  Ireland  because 
the  Celtic  Church  was  independent  in  matters  of  dis- 
cipline of  the  Roman  Pontiffs.  St  Malachy,  some  fifty 
years  before  the  invasion  of  Ireland  by  Henry  the 
Third,  describes  the  Irish  as  "  unbelieving  in  religion, 
Christians  in  name,  but  Pagans  in  reality"1  (see  p.  206). 
The  Brehon  laws  were  in  full  force  by  which  a 
freeman,  that  is  a  person  holding  a  certain  amount  of 
land,  had  a  right  to  seek  protection  from  wrong,  his 
social  status  was  ruled  by  the  amount  of  land  and 
cattle  he  held.  Neither  the  chief  or  anyone  else  could 
raise  a  member  of  the  sept  in  the  social  scale,  for  it 
was  the  unalterable  right  of  the  humblest  freeman 
by  patient  industry  to  raise  himself  and  his  family 
from  one  grade  of  society  to  a  higher  one  by  acquiring 
land,  and  cultivating  it  to  advantage  ;  but  this  industry 
and  perseverance  had  to  be  the  work  of  more  than 

1  Morrison's  "  Life  of  St  Bernard,"  p.  242. 


232  THE  IRISH  CELTS   OF 

one  generation,  the  process  was  a  gradual  one  ;  thrift 
and  industry  were  consequently  the  stimulants,  the 
road  and  only  way  to  advancement  in  life.  Each  rise 
in  the  social  scale  was  attended  with  corresponding 
privileges. 

Crimes  were  considered  as  wrong  committed  by  one 
individual  against  another,  and  might,  therefore,  be 
condoned  by  the  person  who  was  judged  to  be  the 
aggressor,  giving  compensation  for  the  damage  he  had 
inflicted  on  the  injured  party. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  picture  to  ourselves  the  con- 
ditions under  which  the  members  of  a  sept,  such  as 
the  one  we  have  referred  to,  existed  in  Clare  from  the 
fifth  to  the  eleventh  century.  These  people  held 
lands  covering  a  space  as  large  as  the  county  of 
Middlesex.  In  this  area  (Ui-Caisin)  the  sept  or 
family  of  Casisin,  son  of  Cas,  were  absolute  masters, 
the  Iberian  aborigines  had  been  reduced  to  the 
condition  of  slaves.  The  members  of  the  founder 
of  the  sept  multiplied,  but  as  they  were  all  de- 
scended from  a  common  ancestor,  the  tie  of  hereditary 
character  and  of  consanguinity  bound  them  to  one 
another  ;  their  social  life  depending  on  their  share 
of  the  soil,  it  was  by  means  of  its  produce  they 
lived,  their  privileges  as  freemen  depended  on  the 
land.  At  one  end  of  the  social  ladder  was  the  Chief 
of  the  Sept,  who  with  the  headmen  had  the  power  of 
making  war  or  peace,  of  controlling  the  redistribution 
of  the  tribal  lands,  and  guided  by  his  Brehons  had 
almost  unlimited  freedom  of  action  over  the  sept.  At 
the  other  end  of  the  ladder  was  the  bondsman,  who,  so 
far  as  freedom  was  concerned,  was  on  a  par  with  the 
cattle  he  tended.  Unless  we  appreciate  this  fact  it 


THE   TWELFTH   CENTURY  233 

is  impossible  to  comprehend  either  the  ancient  or  the 
modern  history  of  the  Irish  Celts.  Their  hereditary 
qualities,  and  dependence  on  the  soil,  were  of  far 
greater  antiquity  than  their  history,  these  qualities 
were  borne  by  their  remote  ancestors  through  numer- 
ous generations  back  to  their  Aryan  home  ;  characters 
which  had  grown  to  be  as  fixed  a  part  of  these  people 
as  their  physical  formation. 

We  must  here  pause  to  refer  to  the  manner  in 
which  Ireland  was  absorbed  by  the  King  of  England, 
as  this  act  had  a  marked  effect  on  the  character  and 
destinies  of  the  people  of  that  country. 

We  have  shown  that  up  to  the  middle  of  the  12th 
century  the  inhabitants  of  the  west  of  Ireland,  now 
included  in  the  limits  of  County  Clare,  had  retained 
their  absolute  independence,  and  still  held  the  lands, 
and  were  governed  by  the  laws  and  usages  bequeathed 
to  them  by  their  ancestors.  They  spoke  Celtic,  a 
"  member  of  the  Aryan  family  "  of  languages.1 

In  the  year  A.D.  1155  Matthew  Paris  states  that 
Henry  II.  of  England  cast  in  his  mind  the  conquest 
of  Ireland,  for  he  saw  it  was  commodious  for  him, 
and  considered  that  they  were  but  a  rude  and  savage 
people,  "  whereupon  in  his  ambitious  mind  he  sent  to 
Adrian,  Bishop  of  Eome,  one  John  Salisbury  with 
others,  delivering  his  suit  to  that  effect."  Adrian, 
being  a  man  of  English  birth,  heard  England's  am- 
bassadors the  more  willingly,  and  granted  the  king 
his  request,  as  follows  :  after  the  usual  mode  of  saluta- 
tion the  Pope  wrote  to  Henry  that  he  had  "  been  very 
careful  and  studious  how  he  (Henry  II.)  might  enlarge 
the  Church  of  God  here  on  earth — as  for  Ireland  and 

1  O'Curry,  "  Manners  and  Customs  of  Early  Irish,"  vol.  i.  p.  Ixvii 


234  INVASION   OF  IRELAND 

all  other  lands  where  Christ  is  known  and  the 
Christian  religion  received,  it  is  out  of  all  doubt,  and 
your  Excellencie  well  knoweth,  they  do  all  appertain 
and  belong  to  the  right  of  Saint  Peter,  and  of  the 
Church  of  Rome — you  have  advertised  and  signified 
unto  us  that  you  will  enter  the  land  and  realme  of 
Ireland  to  the  end  to  bring  it  to  obedience  into  Law, 
and  under  your  subjection  root  out  from  among  them 
their  foul  sinnes  and  wickednesse,  as  also  to  yeeld  and 
pay  yearly  out  of  every  house,  a  yeerly  pension  of  one 
penny  to  Saint  Peter,  and  besides  also  will  defend 
and  keep  the  rites  of  those  churches  whole  and  in- 
violate. We,  therefore,  well  allowing  and  favouring 
this  your  godly  disposition  and  commendable  affection, 
doe  accept,  ratifie  and  assent  unto  this  your  petition  ; 
and  doe  grant  that  you  doe  enter  to  possess  that  land, 
and  thereto  execute,  according  to  your  wisdom,  what- 
soever shall  be  for  the  honour  of  God,  and  the  safety 
of  the  realrne  ;  and  further  also  we  doe  strictly  charge 
and  require,  that  all  the  people  of  that  land  doe  with 
all  humbleness,  dutifulness,  and  honour,  receive  and 
accept  you  as  their  Liege  Lord  and  Soveraigne,  re- 
serving and  accepting  the  right  of  holy  Church  to  be 
inviolably  preserved  :  as  also  the  yeerly  pension  of 
Peter's  pence  out  of  every  house,  which  we  require  to 
be  truly  answered  to  Saint  Peter  and  the  Church  of 
Koine."1 

We  thus  see  that  Ireland  was  made  over  by 
one  foreign  power  to  another  foreign  potentate  ;  the 
remarkable  circumstance  being  that  neither  of  these 
powers  had  the  slightest  right  to  the  country  they 
thus  disposed  of.  The  Celtic  Church  had  in  matters 
1  Dr  Hanmer's  "  Chronicle,"  p.  216. 


BY   HENRY   THE    SECOND  235 

of  discipline  been  independent  of  Eome,  but  surely 
this  was  no  reason  why  Adrian  IV.  should  have  made 
a  gift  of  the  country  with  all  its  lands  and  inhabitants 
to  Henry  II.  of  England. 

Henry  the  Second  at  the  time  of  receiving  Adrian's 
sanction  to  assume  the  government  of  Ireland  was 
engaged  in  Normandy,  and  had  neither  men  nor 
money  with  which  to  enter  on  the  conquest  of  Ireland, 
for  he  was  perfectly  well  aware  that  the  Irish  would 
not  submit  tamely  to  the  Pope's  Bull.  But  in  the  year 
1166  he  was  invited  by  Mac  Murrogh,  King  of 
Leinster,  to  send  a  force  of  English  over  to  help  him 
regain  the  position  from  which  he  had  been  expelled 
by  his  own  people.  Henry  II.  recognized  the 
advisability  of  taking  advantage  of  this  invitation  so 
as  to  obtain  a  footing  in  Ireland.  The  King  therefore 
issued  orders  from  Normandy  conferring  powers  on 
certain  Anglo-Norman  barons  to  go  to  the  aid  of  Mac 
Murrogh  ;  among  them  was  Robert  Fitzstephen  who 
passed  over  to  that  country  with  his  retainers  and 
landed  at  Wexford  AD.  1169.  He  at  once  joined 
forces  with  Mac  Murrogh,  and  some  of  their  first 
acts  were  to  pillage  and  burn  ecclesiastical  establish- 
ments such  as  Kells,  Slane,  and  Clonard. 

Dermot  Mac  Murrogh  died  in  the  spring  of  the 
year  1171,  and  the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  who  had 
married  Dermot's  daughter,  according  to  English  law 
succeeded  to  the  title  and  estates  of  Chief,  or  King  of 
Leinster.  This  however  was  going  rather  faster  than 
suited  Henry  of  England,  he  therefore  recalled  Strong- 
bow,  and  determined  to  proceed  himself  to  Ireland. 

King  Henry  landed  at  Waterford  (November  1172) 
accompanied  by  Strongbow,  De  Burghs  and  other 


236  RESISTANCE    OF   IRISH   CELTS 

barons,  and  was  met  by  the  various  Irish  Chiefs,  who 
made  submission  to  the  King,  among  them  was  Donald 
O'Brien  chief  of  Thomond,  who  however  returned  to 
his  province  and  carried  on  the  government  exactly  on 
the  old  lines.  King  Henry  on  the  other  hand  gave 
away  the  whole  of  Ireland  to  some  ten  of  his  Anglo- 
Norman  barons,  who  were  to  take  possession  of  their 
lands,  if  necessary  by  conquest. 

King  Henry  took  no  steps  whatever  to  maintain 
authority  over  Ireland,  nor  did  he  make  an  effort  to 
establish  English  law  in  that  country,  as  Sir  J. 
Davis  observes  the  King  "  neither  left  behind  him 
one  true  subject  more  than  he  found  there  at  his 
coming  over,  which  were  only  English  adventurers,"  l 
Before  leaving  the  country  however  (A.D.  1172)  the 
King  issued  a  decree  that — "  near  kinsfolk  should  not 
marry,  children  must  be  baptised,  and  the  bodies  of 
dead  Christians  buried  within  the  precincts  of  a 
Church." 

Strongbow,  finding  that  Donald  O'Brien  openly 
scoffed  at  the  idea  of  a  King  of  England  ruling 
Thomond,  marched  with  a  strong  force  (A.D.  1174) 
as  far  as  Thurles,  intending  to  pass  on  westward,  but  he 
was  at  this  place  met  by  Donald  and  completely  de- 
feated with  the  loss  of  a  number  of  his  men.  Another 
attempt  was  made  by  the  English  to  enter  Thomond 
(1192)  but  without  success;  the  Dalcasians  in 
conjunction  with  the  Clancuilein  sept  defeated  the 
invaders  and  drove  them  eastward  across  the  Shannon 
at  Killaloe.2 

1  Sir  J.  Davis,  "  A  Discovery  of  the  True  Cause  why  Ireland  was 
never  subdued,"  p.  110,  also  Geraldus  Cambrensis,  book  i.  chap, 
xxxiv.  2  "  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters." 


TO   ENGLISH   INVASION  237 

Donough  O'Brien  subsequently  seems  to  have  entered 
into  some  kind  of  arrangement  with  Henry  III.  by 
which  he  was  to  obtain  and  hold  full  possession  of  his 
own  lands  on  paying  tribute  to  the  King.  Directly 
this  compact  became  known  to  the  Clancuilein  and 
other  septs  they  rose  to  a  man  and  drove  Donough 
their  chief  out  of  Thomond  "  because  he  seemed  to 
be  favourably  disposed  to  their  enemies." 

Donough  O'Brien  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son 
Conor  who  was  inaugurated  on  Magh  Adhair  as  Chief 
of  Thomond,  by  Sheeda  Mac-con-mara  A.D.  1242. 
Conor  married  a  daughter  of  Sheeda  O'Brien,  an  event 
which  had  an  important  influence  on  the  destinies  of 
Thomond,  as  it  brought  the  chiefs  of  Clancuilein  and 
of  the  O'Briens  into  more  intimate  relations  than  had 
lately  existed  between  these  Celtic  families.  Through 
many  years  of  terrible  strife  this  friendship  was 
faithfully  maintained  against  a  rival  section  of  the 
O'Briens,  supported  by  the  Anglo-Norman  Earl  De 
Clare  and  his  followers.  The  King  of  England  had 
granted  De  Clare  possession  of  Thomond  so  soon  as 
he  could  conquer  the  inhabitants  and  bring  them 
under  the  subjection  of  the  English  crown. 

Conor  O'Brien's  sister  married  the  Chief  or  King  of 
Connaught,  and  having  thus  gained  his  aid,  and  that  of 
the  Clancuilein  sept,he  felt  himself  sufficiently  strong  to 
attack  the  English.  "He  did  this  with  such  success  that 
we  are  told  he  did  not  suffer  one  of  the  English  nation 
to  inhabit  the  size  of  the  meanest  hut  in  the  kingdom 
over  which  he  was  chief."  l 

1  Macgrath's  "  Triumphs  of  Turlough,"  Standish  Hayes  O'Grady's 
translation,  p.  2. 


CHAPTER  III 

IN  the  year  1258,  a  council  of  chiefs  of  the  four 
provinces  of  Ireland  was  convened  in  order  to  take 
united  action  against  the  English  throughout  Ireland  ; 
after  a  long  and  fruitless  discussion  as  to  which  of 
the  four  rulers  was  to  be  supreme,  the  council  broke 
up  without  arriving  at  any  decision  on  this,  to  them,  all 
important  point.  Thus  ended  the  last  chance  of 
effective  union  for  National  defence  among  the  native 
Celtic  chiefs  of  Ireland.  Conor  O'Brien  was  repre- 
sented at  this  Council  by  his  son  Teige,  who  died 
soon  afterwards.  His  father  seems  to  have  been 
crushed  by  this  double  blow  to  his  hopes,  for  we  are 
told  that  "  he  refused  to  drink,  or  take  comfort,  and 
to  such  a  depth,  and  for  so  long  was  his  grief  pro- 
longed, that  his  tribe  rose  against  him  ;  his  sorrow  they 
respected,  but  when  it  passed  into  settled  gloom  "  they 
led  their  chief  to  understand  that  he  must  make  way 
for  some  one  else,  if  he  desired  to  indulge  in 
inordinate  grief.  "  The  Four  Masters  "  inform  us  that 
during  the  latter  part  of  Conor  O'Brien's  reign, 
Thomond  was  not  only  at  peace,  but  that  the  seasons 
were  favourable  and  the  people  consequently  pros- 
perous. The  inhabitants  however  became  over-ricli 
and  turbulent,  refusing  to  pay  their  cesses.  Sioda 
Mac-con-mara  seems  to  have  speedily  quelled  this  in- 
subordination throughout  the  east  of  Thomond  ;  but 
Conor  in  attempting  to  put  down  the  insurrection  in 

238 


THE   IRISH   CELTS  239 

Barren  lost  his  life,  together  with  that  of  his  third  son 
and  a  daughter. 

Conor  O'Brien  was  buried  in  the  Abbey  of 
Corcornroe,  where  his  tomb  is  still  to  be  seen  in 
good  preservation  in  the  north  side  of  the  chancel. 

Conor  was  succeeded  by  his  second  son  Brian  Koe 
who  was  inaugurated  King  or  Chief  of  Thomond  by 
his  uncle  Sioda  Mac-con-mara ;  but  his  elder  brother 
had  left  a  son  called  Tur lough,  who  at  the  time  of 
his  grandfather's  death  was  only  nine  years  of  age, 
and  consequently  too  young  to  succeed  to  the  Chieftain- 
ship of  Thomond.  Brian  Koe  therefore  reigned  at 
Clonrod  for  nine  years  "and  fought  the  English, 
governing  with  a  strong  hand,"  but  in  the  year  1277, 
Turlough  revolted  against  his  uncle,  and  his  cause 
was  espoused  by  the  Clancuilein  sept,  his  grand- 
mother having  been  the  daughter  of  their  Chief,  Neil 
Mac-con- rnara,  and  because  he  was  the  rightful  heir 
to  the  position  held  by  Brian  Eoe ;  the  latter  was 
therefore  driven  out  of  Clonrod,  and  fled  to  Limerick 
and  placed  himself  under  the  protection  of  the  Anglo- 
Norman,  Earl  de  Clare,  who  undertook  to  assist  Brian, 
provided  he  would  assign  the  lands  between  Limerick 
and  Athsollus  to  him  and  his  heirs.1  These  terms 

1  Thomas  de  Clare,  Governor  of  London,  was  the  second  son  of 
Richard  Earl  of  Gloucester,  and  he  (Thomas),  having  borne  arms 
against  the  king  at  the  battle  of  Lewes,  eventually  came  over  to  the 
king's  side,  and  with  his  brother  Gilbert  arranged  a  plan  by  which 
Edward  the  king's  son  escaped  from  custody.  This  brought  them 
pardon,  and  Henry  III.  made  Thomas  his  secretary ;  Gilbert  was 
married  to  the  Princess  Joan  of  Acre,  and  Thomas  de  Clare  got 
licence  to  settle  in  Ireland  (1269),  but  he  did  not  go  there  until  after 
Edward's  return  from  the  Holy  Land.  He  married  a  daughter  of 
Lord  Desmond,  and  got  a  grant  of  his  lands  in  trust  from  Prince 
Edward.  De  Clare  had  a  nominal  right  to  part  of  Thomond,  for 


240  RESISTANCE   OF  CELTS 

having  been  agreed  to,  De  Clare  obtained  help  from 
the  Fitzgeralds  and  other  Anglo-Norman  barons,  and 
together  with  Brian  Roe's  followers  sallied  forth 
to  attack  Torlough  O'Brien  with  the  intention  of 
placing  Brian  Eoe  at  the  head  of  affairs  in  Thomond. 
Thus  we  have  a  repetition  of  the  old  story,  mutual 
jealousy  between  Celtic  chiefs,  one  of  whom  to 
strengthen  his  position  called  in  the  aid  of  foreigners 
to  assist  him  in  overcoming  his  adversary.  The 
Anglo-Normans  were  probably  better  trained  soldiers 
than  the  Irish,  but  the  latter  with  their  shields, 
lances,  and  swords,  their  half  naked  bodies  and  long 
matted  hair  tied  with  thongs  over  their  eyes,  fleet 
of  foot  and  enduring  as  the  beasts  of  their  forests, 
were  men  which  the  more  heavily  armed  Anglo- 
Normans  had  to  contend  with. 

De  Clare  advanced  as  far  into  Ui-cas-ein  as  Quin, 
at  which  place  he  strengthened  the  fort  which  existed 
in  that  place,  erecting  flanking  towers,  which  still 
remain,  and  also  part  of  the  massive  walls  of  the  fort 
which  form  a  part  of  walls  of  the  existing  Quin  Abbey. 

The  Clancuilein  sept  not  being  strong  enough  to 
give  battle  to  De  Clare,  retired  northward  to  the  hills 
of  Echty ;  in  the  meantime  Tuiiough  passed  into  the 
district  of  Burren  and  was  joined  by  some  of  the 
retainers  of  the  De  Burghs's  (Bourkes)  of  Galway,  he 

Robert  de  Musegros,  a  former  grantee,  had  surrendered  Tradree  to 
the  king  (p.  99).  The  king  subsequently  granted  Thomas  de  Clare 
in  fee  the  province  of  Thomond,  including  Tradree.  Thus  De  Clare 
was  established,  so  far  as  Edward  King  of  England  could  secure  him, 
in  the  south  of  co.  Clare,  in  the  angle  made  by  the  rivers  Fergus 
and  Shannon,  north  of  which  lay  the  Ui-Caisin  lands  (T.  J.  Westropp's 
"  Normans  in  Thomond  "  :  "  Journal  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries of  Ireland,"  1890,  pp.  285-286.) 


TO  THE   ANGLO-NORMANS  241 

then  joined  the  Clancuilein  sept  and  the  combined 
forces  at  once  commenced  offensive  warfare  against 
De  Clare  and  the  other  Anglo-Normans  who  had 
fixed  their  headquarters  in  the  district  of  Tradree.  In 
the  year  1277,  Turlough  and  Sioda  Mac-con-mara 
felt  they  were  sufficiently  strong  to  meet  the  enemy 
in  the  open,  and  they  gave  battle  to  De  Clare  at 
Mongressan.  De  Clare  was  completely  beaten,  and  his 
brother-in-law  and  other  Norman  knights  were  slain. 
Brian  Roe  and  De  Clare  escaped  to  the  Castle  of 
Bunratty,  where  the  Earl's  wife  denounced  Brian  as 
a  traitor,  and  as  having  been  the  cause  of  her 
brother's  death.  The  unfortunate  Irish  chief  was 
seized  and  brought  into  the  castle  yard,  where  he 
was  "  bound  to  a  strong  steed  "  and  dragged  to  death, 
his  body  was  then  suspended  by  its  feet  from  the 
gallows.  This  murder  was  perpetrated  by  De  Clare 
notwithstanding  having  entered  into  a  sacred  alliance 
with  Brian,  upon  which  occasion  they  swore  by  the 
most  solemn  oath  to  support  one  another,  and  mixed 
their  blood  in  token  of  friendship.  The  details  of  this 
crime  are  recorded  by  the  "  Four  Masters,"  and  were 
also  transmitted  by  certain  Celtic  chiefs  to  Pope 
John  XII. 

De  Clare  endeavoured  to  come  to  an  arrangement 
with  Turlough,  but  the  latter  declined  so  much  as  to 
listen  to  words  of  peace  after  what  had  happened  to 
Brian  Roe. 

Turlough  proceeded  with  his  victorious  army  to 
Magh  Adhair  and  was  proclaimed  ruler  of  Thomond 
by  Sioda  Mac-con-mara.  No  mention  is  made  of  any 
religious  or  other  ceremony  on  this  occasion,  the 
same  form  seems  to  have  been  observed  in  the  year 
Q 


242  RESISTANCE   OF   IRISH   CELTS 

1276  as  that  followed  on  similar  occasions  from  the 
earliest  days  of  the  Celtic  conquest  of  the  west  of 
Ireland. 

Many  of  the  facts  given  in  the  preceding  and  in 
the  following  pages  are  drawn  from  a  work  by 
John  Macgrath  who  wrote  an  account  in  the  year 
1459  of  the  "Triumph  of  Turlough."  A  copy  of  this 
Celtic  manuscript  and  a  translation  of  it  exist  in  the 
Egerton  Collection  of  the  British  Museum  Library. 
The  original  is  in  Dublin,  and  has  been  translated  by 
Mr  Standish  H.  O'Grady,  who  kindly  allowed  us  to 
consult  his  work.  Macgrath  states  that  he  wrote  this 
history  from  information  given  him  by  persons  who 
had  witnessed  the  scenes  he  describes.  Professor 
O'Curry  remarks  that  the  "  Wars  of  Thomond  stand 
unrivalled,  the  style  and  composition  is  extremely 
redundant  ;  nevertheless  it  possesses  a  power  and 
vigour  of  description  which  independently  of  the 
exciting  incidents  it  describes,  will  amply  compensate 
the  reader's  study."  l 

De  Clare  having  failed  to  induce  Turlough  to  come 
to  an  agreement,  felt  that  the  charter  he  had  received 
from  the  King  of  England  granting  him  possession  of 
Thomond  was  about  as  valuable  as  the  paper  on  which 
it  was  written  ;  but  he  still  hoped  to  gain  his  end,  not 
so  much  by  direct  conquest  as  by  inciting  the  jealousy 
of  the  Celtic  chiefs  against  one  another,  and  through 
their  mutual  destruction  to  step  into  the  position  he 
so  much  coveted  in  Clare.  His  next  move  therefore 
was  to  induce  Donough  the  son  of  Brian  Eoe  to  join 
the  English,  and  Donough  consented  to  co-operate  with 

1  "  Lectures  on  Manuscript  Materials  of  Ancient  Irish  History," 
p.  235. 


TO   ENGLISH   INVADERS  243 

his  father's  murderers  in  their  efforts  to  destroy  the 
power  of  his  relation  Turlough  O'Brien.  The  con- 
federates started  off  on  a  raid  through  the  west  of 
Clare,  and  then  suddenly  turned  eastward  and  appeared 
before  Clonrod  ;  Turlough  was  taken  by  surprise  and 
with  difficulty  made  his  escape  and  sought  refuge  with 
Sioda  Mac-con-mara  ;  he  was  followed  by  a  portion  of 
De  Clare's  forces  led  by  Donough,  who  that  night 
encamped  at  Quiu.  Macgrath  states  that  Sioda  Mac- 
con-mara  with  a  small  force  of  retainers  determined 
to  attack  Donough 's  force,  hoping  during  the  confusion 
produced  by  a  sudden  onslaught  to  reach  Donough 
and  engage  him  in  single  combat.  So  desperate  was 
this  attack  that  Sioda  penetrated  into  the  midst  of  the 
enemies'  camp,  but  he  and  his  followers  were  surrounded 
and  were  overborne,  the  whole  party  including  their 
chief  being  killed. 

After  the  death  of  Sioda,  Clancuilein  assembled  at 
Magh  Adhair  and  elected  his  son  Coveha  as  their 
chief ;  the  historian  remarks  that  in  this  choice 
Clancuilein  had  not  exchanged  a  stone  for  an  egg,  but 
had  taken  gold  in  place  of  silver,  for  he  adds — now 
the  Cu  or  Wolf-dogs  anger  rose  against  those  that 
bordered  on  his  confines.  Coveha  married  Sheila, 
daughter  of  O'Carroll  the  Celtic  Chief  of  Ely.  It 
seems  that  the  author  of  the  records  from  which 
Macgrath  compiled  his  history  had  strong  feelings  in 
favour  of  Coveha,  and  of  his  son  Lochlain,  and  grand- 
son MacCon  ;  he  constantly  refers  to  their  prowess 
and  feats  of  arms,  although  he  is  by  no  means  sparing 
in  his  commendation  of  other  Dalcasian  chiefs. 

Turlough  O'Brien  and  Coveha  failing  to  obtain  aid 
from  MacCarthy  of  Desmond  or  from  other  sources 


244  RESISTANCE    OF   IRISH   CELTS 

came  to  the  decision  that  they  must  in  future  depend 
on  their  own  resources  if  they  were  to  get  rid  of 
the  Anglo-Normans.  They  consequently  set  about 
organising  their  forces,  over  which  Donald,  a  brother  of< 
Turlough's,  and  Coveha  Mac-con-mara  were  chosen 
leaders.  De  Clare  was  not  slow  in  making  counter 
preparations,  and  the  opposing  forces  met  on  the  plain 
near  Tulla  ;  the  Delcasians,  by  a  dexterous  flank  move- 
ment, broke  in  on  the  main  body  of  the  Anglo-Norman 
forces  and  completely  overcame  them.  Coveha  ordered 
the  arms  of  the  enemy  who  had  been  killed  to  be 
collected  and  sent  to  Turlough,  who  at  the  time  was 
occupied  east  of  the  Shannon  ;  but  the  "  spurs  of  the 
knights  and  their  shields  and  armorial  bearings  he 
directed  should  be  defaced  and  sent  to  De  Clare. 
Turlough  followed  up  this  victory  by  marching  through 
Tradee  up  to  the  walls  of  Bunratty  Castle,  and  com- 
pelled De  Clare  to  banish  Donough  Brian  Eoe.  But 
in  the  following  year  for  the  sake  of  peace  Turlough 
agreed  to  make  over  the  western  part  of  Clare  to 
Donough,  retaining  the  eastern  portion.  This  arrange- 
ment was  hardly  likely  to  lead  to  permanent  peace,  and 
in  fact  complications  soon  arose  between  the  two  chiefs. 
In  the  year  1284  Donough  and  Turlough  agreed  to 
meet  and  settle  their  quarrels ;  the  former  chief,  we 
are  told,  came  to  the  appointed  place — sufficiently  well 
drunk  to  make  him  noisy,  and  he  abused  Turlough  in 
no  measured  terms  ;  the  consequence  was  that  a  fight 
between  the  followers  of  the  respective  chiefs  took 
place,  from  which  Donough  escaped,  but  being  pursued 
and  wounded,  he  plunged  into  the  river  Fergus  and 
was  drowned.  Turlough  was  thus  left  the  undisputed 
ruler  of  Thoraond. 


TO  THE   ANGLO-NORMANS  245 

On  the  29th  August  1287  Thomas  Earl  de  Clare 
was  killed  with  some  of  his  principal  knights  in  an 
encounter  with  the  Dalcasians,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  brother  Kichard  de  Clare.1 

Turlough  built  the  beautiful  Abbey  of  Ennis,  the 
ruins  of  which  are  still  in  good  preservation  ;  he  died 
on  the  10th  of  April  1306,  and  was  buried  in  the 
church  he  had  so  lately  completed.  His  son  Donough 
was  inaugurated  ruler  of  Thomond  in  his  place. 

Coveha  Mac-con-mara  survived  his  chief  for  two 
years  ;  he  died  a  natural  death,  and  was  buried  close  to 
the  grave  of  Turlough  in  the  Abbey  of  Ennis.  The 
Clancuilein  Sept  elected  Donchadh,  son  of  Coveha,  as 
their  chief.  Macgrath  states  the  Sept  "  honoured  him 
for  his  flawless  integrity,  his  perfect  chivalry,  valour 
and  loyalty  to  the  head  of  the  province."  He  further 
states  that  Donchadh  was  always  ready  to  help  any 
man  in  trouble  whose  cause  was  good,  his  hospitality 
and  generosity  were  proverbial,  "  he  was  gentle  and 
winning  with  women,  and  a  handsome  purveyor  of  the 
wine-feast."  2  We  refer  to  these  traits  of  character  as 
given  by  the  historian,  because  they  indicate  the 
qualities  possessed  by  a  Celtic  chief  living  in  the 
early  part  of  the  fourteenth  century,  which  gained  for 
him  the  respect  and  obedience  of  his  retainers  and 
other  members  of  his  Clan. 

In  the  following  account  of  the  Clancuilein  Sept 
we  have  quoted  extensively  from  Macgrath's  history, 
which  he  states  was  compiled  in  the  year  1459,  from 
documents  belonging  to  the  families  of  the  men  who 
took  an  active  part  in  the  scenes  to  which  he  refers. 

1  State  Papers,  Ireland,  No.  1301. 

2  Translation  of  "  Triumphs  of  Turlough,"  p.  34. 


246  MACGRATH'S  HISTORY 

The  author  of  this  work  was  descended  from  a  long 
line  of  the  official  Dalcasian  bards.  In  his  history, 
therefore,  we  possess  not  only  glimpses  of  the  personal 
characters  displayed  by  Celtic  chiefs  living  in  the 
early  part  of  the  fourteenth  century,  but  also  an 
example  of  the  Celtic  literature  of  this  and  a  some- 
what later  period  which  demonstrates  the  spirit  of 
the  age,  and  of  the  environment  which  prevailed 
among  the  inhabitants  of  County  Clare  up  to  the 
year  A.D.  14? 5 9.  If  we  compare  the  account  given  by 
Macgrath  of  the  Dalcasian  chiefs  of  the  period  com- 
prised in  his  history,  we  find  the  qualities  he  describes 
as  belonging  to  these  men  are  identical  with  those 
which  M.  Thierry  and  Mommsen  state,  characterised 
their  progenitors,  the  inhabitants  of  ancient  Gaul 
(p.  211). 

From  the  date  of  Earl  de  Clares'  death  in  August 
1287  until  the  year  1310,  the  peace  and  prosperity 
of  Thomond  was  almost  undisturbed ;  the  jealousy  of 
the  Irish  septs  among  themselves  was  then  the  cause  of 
a  small  war  which  broke  out  in  the  north-eastern  part 
of  the  province.  The  Anglo-Normans  still  living  in  and 
around  Bunratty  were  not  slow  to  avail  themselves  of 
the  weakness  caused  by  the  strife  that  was  raging 
amongst  the  neighbouring  Celtic  Septs  of  Clare;  Richard 
de  Clare  at  once  formed  an  alliance  with  Dermod 
Brian  Koe.  Clancuilein  in  the  meantime  had  elected 
Lochlain,  brother  of  Donchadh  Mac-con-mara,  as  their 
chief,  who  Macgrath  describes  as  being  "  a  favourite 
with  his  retainers  for  his  courage,  with  his  hospitallers 
for  his  good-nature  and  justice,  with  little  children 
for  his  mildness,  and  with  ladies  for  his  affable 
temper."  We  are  informed  that  the  English  and 


OF   WARS   OF   THOMOND  247 

their  confederates  made  several  attempts  during  the 
year  1312  to  possess  the  lands  owned  by  Clancuilein, 
but  that  in  each  attempt  the  leader  of  the  raid  re- 
turned to  his  home  "  altogether  penitent." 2  This 
constant  conflict  was  carried  on  to  such  an  extent 
that  the  country  was  brought  into  a  condition  of 
abject  wretchedness,  and  Lochlain  Mac-con-mara  at  the 
request  of  his  Sept,  having  received  a  safe  conduct 
from  De  Clare,  proceeded  to  Bunratty  Castle  with  the 
object  of  entering  into  negotiations  with  the  Earl  re- 
garding the  questions  at  issue.  On  arriving,  however, 
at  De  Clare's  castle,  Lochlain  was  seized,  and  carried 
away  to  Lough  Colmen,  where  he  was  beheaded, 
together  with  his  nephew,  and  their  bodies  were  then 
thrown  into  the  lake. 

Dermod  Brian  Eoe  was  at  this  time  taken  seriously 
ill.  Macgrath  states  that  "  after  he  (as  a  matter  of 
habit)  had  been  let  blood,  he  never  nursed  the  in- 
firmity, but  rashly  persisted  to  run,  hunt,  ride,  and 
practise  sword  and  spear  exercises.  All  of  which 
combined  oppressed  him  greatly,  and  the  ailment 
grew  exceedingly,  until  from  its  intensity  he  took  to 
his  bed,  arid  died." 

After  the  murder  of  Lochlain  by  De  Clare,  the 
Clancuilein  Sept  elected  his  brother  MacCon  as  their 
chief.  Overtures  were  at  once  made  to  MacCon  by  the 
Anglo-Irish  confederates  to  the  effect  that  he  should 
join  them  and  thus  restore  peace  to  the  country.  He, 
however,  declined  so  much  as  to  listen  to  any  such 
overtures  or  to  desert  the  cause  of  Mortough  O'Brien, 
and  so  throughout  the  years  1314  and  1315  there 
was  perpetual  fighting,  not  only  between  the  various 

2  "  Triumphs  of  Turlough,"  p.  54. 


248  RESISTANCE   OF  IRISH   CELTS 

sections  of  the  Dalcasian  tribe,  but  also  with  the 
Anglo-Normans  led  by  Earl  de  Clare  with  his  ally 
Donald  Brian  Roe,  who  had  succeeded  his  father 
Dermod.  In  one  of  these  encounters  Mortough  with 
his  friends  of  Clancuilein  completely  routed  De  Clare 
and  Donald  Brian's  forces,  and  the  latter  chief  with 
his  brother  were  expelled  and  had  to  take  refuge  in 
Connaught,  where  they  entered  into  negotiations  with 
King  Robert  Bruce,  and  urged  him  to  bring  an  army 
over  from  Scotland  for  the  conquest  of  Ireland. 
Bruce  willingly  accepted  this  invitation,  hoping  there- 
by to  weaken  his  enemies  the  English ;  he  therefore 
despatched  his  brother  Edward  with  a  well  equipped 
army  into  Ireland.  The  Scots  with  the  followers  of 
Donald  Brian  Roe  passed  southward  from  Ulster, 
ravishing  and  burning  the  country  "  like  a  black  cloud 
with  vapour  creeping  offshoots  and  dark  mist,  hard  to 
meet."  Edward  Bruce  ultimately  reached  Cashel, 
where  he  was  joined  by  King  Robert  Bruce.  Brian 
Roe  urged  them  to  attack  Thomond  and  sack  Limerick  ; 
and  so  we  are  informed,  the  Scots,  with  the  intent  of 
entering  Thomond,  arrived  on  the  Shannon's  banks 
at  Castleconnell,  the  Dalcasians  under  Mortough 
O'Brien  being  encamped  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the 
river  ;  some  skirmishing  ensued  between  the  two  forces, 
and  we  are  informed  by  Macgrath  that  "  as  for  such  as 
were  hurt  of  the  Albanachs,  they  are  not  the  gentry 
to  bemoan  ;  but  on  this  hither  side  was  wounded  an 
imp  of  the  genuine  stock,  Hugh  Mac-con-mara."  1 

At  this  critical  moment  the  English  and  Irish 
chiefs  met  at  Limerick  and  determined  to  combine 
their  forces,  the  whole  of  which  were  placed  under 

1 "  Triumphs  of  Turlougk,"  p.  84. 


TO   THE   SCOTS  249 

command  of  Mor tough  O'Brien,  and  they  at  once 
marched  against  the  enemy.  The  Bruces,  however, 
retired,  and  soon  afterwards  King  Eobert  gave  up  the 
idea  of  conquering  Ireland  and  returned  home,  his 
brother  Edward  being  subsequently  defeated  and  killed 
in  an  engagement  with  the  English  at  Dundalk.  The 
"  Four  Masters  "  referring  to  the  Scottish  invasion  of 
Ireland  observe  :  "  Edward  Bruce,  the  destroyer  of  the 
people  of  Ireland,  both  English  and  Irish,  was  slain 
by  the  English.  No  achievement  had  been  performed 
in  Ireland  for  a  long  time  before  from  which  greater 
benefit  has  occurred  to  the  country  than  from  this ; 
for  during  the  three  and  half  years  Bruce  spent  in 
Ireland  a  universal  famine  prevailed  to  such  a  degree 
that  men  were  wont  to  devour  one  another."  We 
cannot  overlook  the  fact  that  the  English,  who  had 
assumed  the  right  to  govern  Ireland,  stood  by  for 
three  years,  while  the  Scotch  destroyed  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  greater  part  of  the  country  County 
Clare  escaped  much  of  this  suffering,  for  we  learn  that 
neither  the  invader  nor  the  plague  reached  the  people 
of  that  province. 

Brian  Roe,  who  had  already  brought  so  much 
trouble  and  distress  on  his  country,  having  in  the  year 
A.D.  1316  heard  that  his  friend  Richard  de  Clare  had 
failed  in  his  attempt  to  persuade  the  English  Council 
to  recognise  his  claims  as  Chief  of  Thomond,  deter- 
mined again  to  try  what  he  could  do  by  an  appeal  to 
arms  ;  he  therefore  called  on  his  former  supporters, 
and  the  chiefs  of  western  Clare,  to  assemble  on 
the  hills  of  Burren  above  Bally vaughan. 

Mortough  O'Brien  was  away  in  Dublin,  and  his 
brother  Dermod  therefore  summoned  the  landholders 


250  HEREDITARY  CHARACTER 

of  his  territory  to  meet  him  in  council ;  among  them 
we  are  informed  came  Mac-con-mara.  The  council 
determined  to  raise  all  the  Septs  of  eastern  Clare  in 
order  to  oppose  Donough  Brian  Roe.  Each  member 
of  the  council,  therefore,  returned  to  his  home  "  to  get 
on  with  all  that  was  needed  for  the  emergency  of  that 
formidable  encounter,  on  which,  towards  the  recovery 
of  their  patrimonial  rights,  they  were  resolved  ;  and 
the  place  of  meeting  which  was  appointed  for  the  last 
muster  before  the  march  was  Ruane,  of  the  grass-clad 
caves." 

All  preparations  having  been  completed,  Macgrath 
states  that  these  devoted  "  Gael  of  the  true  breed,  with 
new  standards  and  burnished  arms — with  a  sound 
appetite  for  the  fray,  they  covered  the  distance  to 
Ruane,  where  cheerily  the  contingents  welcomed  each 
other.  Not  a  man  of  those  present  but  longed  to  fall 
to,  and  among  them  cordial  words  of  welcome  passed — 
without  failure  they  kept  that  tryst,  and  were  moved 
as  it  were  by  the  spirit  of  one  man." 

Mac-con-mara  with  few  words  addressed  the 
assembly  as  follows  : — "  A  hard  and  fierce  battle  ye 
will  have  this  time  :  one  such  as  for  long  has  not  been 
fought,  but  one  which  will  end  in  the  final  triumph  of 
our  cause.  The  head  and  chief  of  our  enemies  will 
fall,  among  them  Donald  their  leader,  and  far  famed 
Teige  of  Limerick.  My  favourite  mailshirt,  which 
Donald  now  holds,  1  will  bring  home  again.  In  order 
to  back  up  which  good  forecast  I  will  be  the  first  to 
join  battle." 

"  With  such  words  his  followers  were  rejoiced,  and 
northward  as  straight  as  an  arrow  urged  their  way 
towards  the  enemy,  until  they  reached  the  Abbey  of 


OF  THE    IRISH   CELTS  251 

Corcomroe,  in  Burren,  within  the  precincts  of  the 
monastery  they  secured  their  cattle.  During  the 
night  many  of  them  slept  on  the  floor  of  the  church, 
others  in  the  more  comfortable  cubicles,  where 
they  enjoyed  soft  luxury  and  secured  deep  sleep ; 
others  passed  the  night  in  mirth,  although  on  the 
morrow  they  might  die  or  lose  the  soul  of  some  dear 
friend." 

Donald  Roe  and  his  forces  in  the  meantime  had 
assembled  on  the  hills  west  of  Corcomroe ;  he  told  his 
men  to  remember  that  the  purpose  with  which  they  had 
come  on  this  perilous  expedition  was  to  gain  the  battle, 
and  so  make  an  end  once  and  for  all  of  the  long  dispute 
for  the  lands  of  the  tribe,  a  matter  which  must  be 
decided  either  by  your  antagonists'  destruction  or  your 
own  death,  one  and  all.  Macgrath  repeats  that  Donald 
explained  to  his  men  that  friends  and  foes  were 
children  of  Gas,  so  that  they  were  of  the  same  blood 
"  with  whom  your  close  embrace  of  kinship  will  be 
that  of  steel  to  steel." 

At  the  dawn  of  day  the  army  resting  round 
Corcomroe  were  awakened  by  the  report  of  the 
advance  of  the  enemy  with  colours  flying,  and  with 
gilt  spears.  MacCon  issued  from  the  abbey,  and 
Macgrath  observes,  "  a  strange  sight  it  was  to  see  those 
Clancuileins  come  tumbling  out  and  wriggle  on  their 
harness  as  they  ran  ;  nor  ever,  out  of  any  monastery 
whatsoever  had  there  streamed  an  order  more  grimly 
bent  on  fighting  for  their  lands"  We  are  informed 
that  "  the  septs  ranged  themselves  each  under  their 
own  individual  lord  apart,  and  they  then  closed  order 
under  Dermod."  Macgrath  states  that  MacCon  got 
himself  into  his  armour,  hard  mail  of  proof,  over  which 


252  TRAITS   OF   HEREDITARY 

was  a  tunic,  in  which  garb,  as  the  chief  was  a-harness- 
ing,  his  attendants  in  haste  put  it  back  in  front  upon 
him  ;  he  bade  them  return  it  carefully,  and  said : 
"  We  shall  all  the  better  be  for  this  oversight,  which 
portends  some  gain  still  [even  greater  than  that 
looked  for].  Now  steadily  hook  on  the  tippet  and 
clasp  the  mail,  fasten  my  helmet  on  my  head,  for  this 
armour  I  will  not  change  until  as  its  price  from 
yonder  folk  I  win  a  better  set." 

"  Here  Clancuilein's  phalanx  fell  in  about  their  lord, 
and  the  leading  gentlemen  of  the  attack  were  Nicol 
Mac  Coveha,  extreme  particular  spear  point  on  all 
onset,  special  shield  of  deadly  retreat ;  he  was  a 
ruddy  youth  of  open  countenance  and  handsome 
features,  red-lipped,  close  bearded,  stalwart,  and 
staunch,  whose  lot  it  was  in  this  affair  to  take  his 
brother  and  chief's  right  shoulder  ;  nor  surely  we  may 
pity  one  that  at  this  juncture  hath  a  shoulder  prop 
such  [as  this  of  MacCon's]  in  battle.  Young  Hugh  also, 
bushy  and  curly-headed,  a  genuine  heir  of  Clancuilein, 
who  stepped  to  his  kinsman's  other  shoulder  to  be  his 
guard."  i 

They  advanced  with  spears  to  the  fore,  and  colours 
flying.  Macgrath  inform  us  that  MacCon  proclaimed  : 
"  In  this  field  we  will,  if  it  so  please  you,  have  no 
precedence  of  kindreds,  but  every  man  that  wishes 
to  be  to  the  fore  let  him  for  the  first  onfall  race  even  as 
I  will  race ;  he  that  prefers  the  centre  or  is  satisfied 
with  the  rear,  according  to  his  fancy,  let  him  hang 
back  and  do  such  service  as  he  may.  MacCon  further 
called  on  the  chosen  one  hundred  of  his  sept  that  had 

1  "  Triumphs  of  Turlough,"  translated  by  Standish  H.  O'Grady, 
p.  96. 


CELTIC   CHARACTER  253 

vowed  to  fall  with  him  to  come  to  the  fore ;  but  these 
words  were  hardly  uttered  before  the  "  whole  of 
Clancuilein  answered  witR  one  voice,  and  rushed  to 
surround  their  chief."  1 

And  so  the  opposing  forces  reached  the  plain, 
whose  face  was  scored  with  irregular  seams ;  the  fore- 
most ranks  let  fly  their  stones  and  javelins,  darts  and 
arrows.  The  two  sides  then  met  hand  to  hand  with 
ringing  cheers,  and  spears  well  to  the  fore.  Macgrath 
gives  a  detailed  account  of  the  battle  and  of  the 
valour  shown  by  the  chiefs  of  the  various  septs 
engaged,  which  may  best  be  read  in  Mr  O'Grady^ 
translation  of  Macgrath's  history.  As  regards 
Clancuilein,  he  states  that  on  MacCon  "  fell  the 
task  of  keeping  the  battle  braced  together ;  there 
he  stood  rooted  and  held  the  key  of  the  position, 
dealing  death  to  his  enemies.  For  out  of  the  West 
hardly  was  there  come  champion  or  great  chief's  son, 
chieftain  or  noble  captain  of  Clan  Brian  Roe  but  con- 
tinually and  wildly  cried  out  for  MacCon " — and  in 
response  to  them  his  chiefs,  one  after  the  other,  sprang 
to  meet  his  challengers.  MacCon  had  no  easy  game 
to  play,  as  he  found  himself  planted  in  the  centre 
of  the  fight,  encircled  with  a  trusty  band  of  his  Sept, 
who  parried  many  a  blow  for  him — among  these, 
Nicol  fought  desperately — and  the  feats  that  he 
performed,  which,  but  for  his  shield,  that  proved  his 
salvation,  could  never  have  been  carried  through. 
Hugh  likewise  did  doughty  service,  though  but  a 
stripling,  and  so  on  with  other  members  of  the  sept.1 
At  length  Donald  Brian  Roe  was  slain  and  his 
followers  were  completely  defeated  by  Dermod  O'Brien 

1  Ibid.,  p.  98. 


254  TRAITS   OF   HEREDITARY 

and  the  Clancuilein  and  other  septs  of  the  Dalcasian 
tribe  under  his  command. 

Dermod  addressed  his  soldiers,  urging  them  not 
to  be  overcome  by  grief  for  the  friends  that  had  been 
slain. 

The  Sept  of  Clancuilein  suffered  severely.  Twenty- 
one  of  their  leaders  were  killed,  and  among  their  slain 
chiefs  was  the  lad  above  referred  to. 

The  bodies  of  Donough  Eoe  and  his  chiefs  were 
carefully  buried  by  the  Dalcasians,  side  by  side  of 
their  own  dead,  "  branches  of  the  parent  vine  who  had 
ceased  to  strive  for  the  chiefry."  After  this  Macgrath 
states,  "  hastily  binding  up  their  wounds,  fathers,  with 
weak  steps,  were  tending  their  sons,  or  sons  their 
fathers,  or  in  bearing  them  to  their  abiding  places  of 
clayey  mould."  He  adds  :  "  So  the  army  after  toil 
and  travail  had  respite  :  some  of  the  victors  counting 
their  own  successes  ;  others  bewailing  their  own  losses, 
etc.  Mac-con-mara  was  taken  to  Cloriroad  to  be 
cured  of  his  wounds,  and  his  other  standard  bearer 
was  brought  to  Ennis  where  "  his  body,  though  it 
recovered  not,  yet  his  soul's  cure  was  the  result." 

In  the  following  summer,  under  a  guarantee 
given  by  De  Clare's  wife  and  son,  MacCon,  as  represent- 
ing Murtough  O'Brien,  went  to  offer  the  Earl  and  his 
party  terms  of  peace.  Eichard  de  Clare,  however, 
rejected  these  proposals ;  and  endeavoured  to  lure 
MacCon  into  accepting  terms  to  his  personal  advantage, 
in  fact  he  offered  him  "  all  sorts  of  privileges  and 
great  wages,"  if  he  would  only  turn  and  join  the 
Anglo-Normans,  who  would  protect  him  and  his 
people.  MacCon  at  once  replied  that  he  would  not  so 
much  as  listen  to  such  proposals,  but  to  those  only  of 


CELTIC   CHARACTER  255 

which  Mortough  O'Brien  approved,  "  seeing  (he  said) 
that  whether  for  peace  or  war  by  him  he  would  stand." 
MacCon  then  took  his  leave  of  De  Clare  and  went 
home  to  confer  with  O'Brien  and  the  chiefs  of 
Thomond.  Macgrath  states  that  MacCon  observed  "  at 
the  hands  of  yonder  abominable  perverse  English 
gang,  cruel  and  insatiable,  overbearing,  surly,  sullen, 
full  of  spite  and  ill  design,  never  except  as  by  virtue 
and  bravery  and  skilful  conduct  in  battle,  will  you 
expell  them  from  our  lands,  or  have  freedom  or  true 
peace  and  goodfellowship.  Hence  we  must  act  on  the 
defensive  against  De  Clare."  x 

De  Clare  on  his  part  determined  to  make  a  last 
effort  to  overthrow  the  Celtic  chiefs  of  Clare ;  he  had 
played  one  faction  against  another  for  years  without 
success,  and  it  seemed  to  him  necessary  now  to  rally 
all  the  Anglo-Normans  he  could  collect,  and  in  con- 
junction with  such  of  the  Irish  as  would  follow  him, 
to  do  his  best  to  crush  the  chiefs  who  had  for  so  long 
stood  between  him  and  the  possession  of  the  land  we 
now  know  as  county  Clare.  Having  mustered  all  his 
forces  he  marched  to  Quin,  where  he  rested  for 
the  night,  and  then  passed  over  the  river  Fergus 
westward  to  attack  the  stronghold  of  the  O'Deas. 
That  chief  was,  however,  on  the  lookout  for  De  Clare, 
and  had  placed  a  number  of  his  followers  in  some 
woods  near  a  causeway  and  ford,  over  which  it  was 
necessary  for  De  Clare  to  advance.  On  the  following 
morning,  De  Clare,  having  detached  a  part  of  his 
troops  to  make  a  flank  movement,  so  as  to  attack 
O'Dea  in  the  rear,  advanced  with  his  main  body  on 
Dysert.  O'Dea  sent  a  number  of  his  retainers  to 

1  "  Triumphs  of  Turlough,"  p.  120. 


256  EXPULSION   OF  ANGLO-NORMANS 

appear  as  though  engaged  in  driving  cattle  over  the 
ford.  De  Clare  attacked  them ;  and  as  they  turned 
to  defend  the  causeway  De  Clare  and  his  knights  rode 
to  the  front.  The  O'Deas  retreated,  and  were  followed 
by  De  Clare  over  the  ford,  and  so  became  separated 
from  the  main  body  of  his  followers,  when  he  was 
suddenly  set  upon  by  the  Irish  previously  hidden 
among  the  bushes  on  the  side  of  the  road  leading  from 
the  ford  ;  and  before  his  men  could  come  up  to  his 
help  De  Clare  and  sixteen  of  his  bravest  knights  were 
killed. 

Too  late  to  save  their  leaders,  the  main  body  of  the 
English  force  made  their  way  with  difficulty  across 
the  stream  and  beset  the  survivors  of  the  O'Deas  in 
the  wood.  Just  then  O'Conor  and  his  troops  appeared 
on  a  hill  above  ;  they  charged  down  the  slope,  and 
fell  on  the  English.  These  stood  their  ground  bravely 
headed  by  De  Clare's  son,  who  fought  hand  to  hand 
with  O'Conor ;  but  the  brave  youth  was  overcome, 
gallantly  dying  on  the  field  of  battle,  as  became  the 
the  heir  of  so  noble  a  race  as  the  De  Clare's. 

Lady  De  Clare,  directly  she  heard  of  the  death  of 
her  husband  and  son,  placed  her  belongings  in  boats, 
and  passed  over  the  Shannon  ;  before  leaving  Bunratty 
she  ordered  the  place  to  be  set  on  fire.  This  was 
the  last  of  the  Anglo-Normans  in  Clare ;  they  had 
absolutely  failed,  after  fifty  years'  fighting,  to  obtain 
possession  of  a  single  acre  in  that  part  of  Ireland. 

The  O'Briens,  Clancuileins  and  other  Dalcasian  Septs 
had  manfully  and  with  success  resisted,  first  the  in- 
vasion of  Thomond,  by  the  Norsemen,  they  had  turned 
back  Robert  Bruce  and  the  Scots  and  lastly,  had 
expelled  the  Anglo-Normans  from  that  part  of  Ireland, 


FROM   THOMOND  257 

and  thus  succeeded  in  preserving  their  lands  from  the 
intrusion  of  strangers  ;  a  condition  of  affairs  which 
they  maintained  until  as  late  as  the  year  A.D.  1654. 

The  opinion  of  the  best  informed  Irishmen  as  to 
the  social  and  political  position  of  their  countrymen 
during  the  earlier  half  of  the  fourteenth  century  is  to 
be  found  in  a  document  which  they  drew  up  and  for- 
warded to  King  Edward  the  Third,  of  England.  Accord- 
ing to  this  document  the  leading  Celtic  chiefs  urged  the 
King  to  adopt  one  of  two  courses  :  either  to  govern 
Ireland  by  English  law,  or  else  to  leave  the  country 
to  govern  itself  according  to  her  own  laws  and  customs. 
The  King  referred  this  petition  to  his  advisers  in 
Dublin,  and  they  determined  that  action  in  the  matter 
was  unnecessary.  Sir  John  Davies,  Attorney-General 
for  Ireland  in  the  time  of  James  the  First,  in  his  able 
work  on  the  "  True  Cause  why  Ireland  was  never 
subdued,"  refers  to  this  appeal  of  the  Celtic  chiefs. 
He  observes  :  "  I  note  a  great  defect  in  the  policy  of 
England  ;  in  that  for  the  space  of  many  years  after 
the  so-called  conquest  of  Ireland,  the  English  laws 
were  not  communicated  to  the  Irish,  nor  the  benefit 
and  protection  thereof  allowed  into  them,  though  they 
desired  and  sought  the  same."  Sir  John  states  that 
no  true  idea  can  be  formed  of  Irish  history  unless  full 
weight  is  given  to  this  fact.  This  may  be  true,  but 
the  real  cause  of  the  discontent  and  disaffection  of  the 
Irish  arose  from  a  far  more  potent  cause  than  the 
administration  or  enactments  contained  in  a  code  of 
laws  prevailing  in  the  country  ;  this  fact  is  clearly  set 
forth  in  a  petition  they  sent  to  the  Pope  on  the  subject. 
This  communication  details,  in  the  first  place,  all  that 
the  inhabitants  of  Ireland  had  suffered  since  Henry  the 


258  THE    IRISH   CELTS 

Second  had  entered  the  country  ;  they  inform  the  Pope 
that  the  English  "  are  incessant  in  their  pursuit  after 
us,  endeavouring  to  chase  us  from  among  them  ;  they 
lay  claim  to  all  our  lands,  and  allege  that  the  whole 
country  of  right  belongs  to  them.  From  these  causes 
arise  the  implacable  hatred  and  dreadful  animosity  of 
the  English  and  the  Irish  towards  each  other." 

This  memorial  states  that  the  system  established 
by  the  English  in  Ireland  may  be  summed  up  as 
follows: — 

1.  "  Every  man  who  is  not  Irish,  may,  for  any  kind  of 
crime  go  to  law  with  any  Irishman,  while  neither  layman, 
nor  ecclesiastic  who  is  Irish  can  under  any  cause  of  pro- 
vocation resort  to  any  legal  measure  against  his  English 
opponent." 

2.  "If  any  Englishman  kill  an  Irishman  perfidiously 
and  falsely,  noble  or  plebeian,  innocent  or  guilty,  including 
the  clergy,  the  crime  is  not  punishable  before  our  English 
tribunal." 

3.  "  If  any  Irishwoman  marry  an  Englishman,  on  the 
death  of  her  husband  she  becomes  deprived  of  one-third  of 
the  property  and  possessions  which  he  owned." 

4.  "  If  an  Irishman  fall  beneath  the  blow  of  an  English- 
man, the  latter  can  prevent  the  vanquished  from  making 
any  testamentary  deposition,  and  may  likewise  take  posses- 
sion of  his  wealth." 

The  Sovereign  Pontiff  was  sufficiently  impressed  by 
these  and  other  usuages  complained  of,  to  forward  this 
document  to  King  Edward  III.,  with  the  observation  that, 
having  "  considered  the  matter  maturely,  we  behest  your 
majesty  that  you  remove  the  cause  of  these  misfortunes 
by  fulfilling  the  duties  of  lord  and  master  you  may  afford 
no  subject  for  complaint,  by  which  means  the  Irish,  guided 
by  a  wise  administration,  may  obey  you  as  lord  of  Ireland  "  ; 
advice  which,  unfortunately,  King  Edward  neglected, 
although  he  was  distinctly  warned  by  the  Pope  that  "  those 


HEREDITARY   CHARACTERISTICS  259 

complaints  should  not  be  neglected  in  the  beginning,  lest  evils 
increase  by  degrees,  and  the  necessary  remedies  be  applied 
too  late."  l 

Wiser  advice  was  never  given,  or  more  conspicuously 
neglected,  until  it  was  indeed  "  too  late." 

Sir  John  Davies,  writing  two  centuries  later  regard- 
ing the  state  of  Ireland,  observed  that  "so  long  as 
the  Irish  were  out  of  the  protection  of  the  law,  so  that 
every  Englishman  might  oppress,  spoil,  and  kill  them 
without  control,  how  was  it  possible  they  should  be 
other  than  outlaws  and  enemies  of  the  Crown  of 
England  ?  If  the  King  would  not  admit  them  to  the 
condition  of  subjects,  how  could  they  learn  to  acknow- 
ledge and  obey  him  as  their  Sovereign,  when  they 
might  not  converse  or  trade  with  any  civil  man,  nor 
enter  into  any  town  or  city  without  peril  of  their 
lives ;  whither  should  they  fly  but  to  woods  and 
mountains,  if  the  English  magistrate  would  not  rule 
them  by  law  which  doth  punish  treason,  and  murder, 
and  theft  with  death,  but  leave  them  to  be  ruled  by 
their  own  laws  and  lords,  why  should  they  not 
embrace  their  own  Brehon  laws  which  punisheth  no 
offence,  except  by  an  eric  or  fine." 

It  was  to  preserve  their  tribe  and  people  from 
untold  misery  created  by  such  a  state  of  society  as 
that  described  by  Sir  J.  Davies,  that  impelled  the 
Celtic  Dalcasian  chiefs  to  fight  so  obstinately  and  so 
effectively  during  the  twelfth,  thirteenth,  and  following 
centuries  ;  their  object  from  first  to  last  was  possession 
of  their  tribal  and  common  lands,  their  own  laws  and 
social  usages,  and  to  this  end  prevent  the  English 

1  "The    History    of    Ireland,"    by    the    Abbe    Macgeoghegan 
translated  by  Patrick  O'Kelly,  pp.  324-326. 


260  CHARACTERISTICS    OP   THE 

from  gaining  possession  of  Thomond.  All  the  misery 
and  hardships  these  people  had  undergone  for  cen- 
turies had  only  tended  to  rivet  more  firmly  than  ever 
their  inherent  yearning  for  their  own  lands.  This 
clinging  to  the  soil  had  grown  to  be  a  part  of 
their  nature  or  hereditary  character,  something  inde- 
pendent of  intellectual  acquirements,  and  as  much  a 
part  of  their  being  as  the  form  of  their  skulls  or 
features. 

With  reference  to  the  family  life  of  the  chiefs 
inhabiting  the  West  of  Ireland  during  the  middle  of 
the  fourteenth  century,  we  find  it  very  difficult  to  obtain 
any  reliable  information,  but  it  would  not  appear  to 
have  been  of  a  lower  order  than  that  prevailing  at 
this  period  in  England  ;  for  instance  Gerald  Fitzgerald, 
Earl  of  Desmond,  had  been  taken  prisoner  in  an 
engagement  fought  with  the  Dalcasians  in  July  1369  ; 
he  was  taken  by  O'Brien  to  his  residence  at  Clonroad 
in  the  centre  of  Clare  (Ennis),  and  was  detained  there  by 
Brian  O'Brien  and  his  wife,  who  was  a  Mac-con-mara.1 
Desmond  was  at  this  period  the  representative  of  the 
King  of  England  in  Ireland,  and  was  versed  in  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  English  Court.2  It  is  a 
remarkable  fact  that  we  find  this  nobleman  some  years 
later  (1388),  forwarding  a  request  to  Richard  the 
Second,  asking  the  King  to  allow  him  to  send  his 
son  James  (subsequently  the  famous  Earl  of  Desmond) 
"  to  be  brought  up  and  educated  "  at  Clonroad  by 

1  O'Brien's  "  Memoirs,"  p.  134. 

2  Fitzgerald,  Earl  of  Desmond  and  Kerry,  was  granted  the  County 
Palatine,  formed  of  nine  counties  and  called  the  Irish  Pale.     The 
lord  who  ruled  the  Pale  had  power  to  make  peace  or  war ;    he  held 
royal  courts,  created  barons  and  knights,  and  appointed  judges  and 
administered  laws. 


IRISH   CELTS  261 

O'Brien,  Ruler  of  Thomond.1  This  request  was 
granted,  and  the  lad  was  reared  in  the  Celtic  chief's 
household,  in  the  centre  of  Thomond,  which,  if  we  are 
to  believe  the  accounts  given  by  some  historians,  was 
in  the  fourteenth  century  inhabited  by  a  set  of 
inhuman,  bloodthirsty  barbarians  ;  this  was  evidently 
not  the  opinion  of  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  who  must 
have  known  them  well  when  detained  among  them  as 
a  prisoner  of  war.  + 

It  is  evident  that  although  the  Brehon  laws  were  still 
in  force  in  Clare  that  the  tenure  of  land  had  under- 
gone change  by  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  ; 
a  deed,  for  instance,  bearing  date  A.D.  1365,  enters 
into  details  as  to  the  debts  due  to  Teige  Mac-con-mara's 
children.  Reference  is  made  to  rents  due  for  twenty 
years,  with  interest  on  the  same  ;  and  we  have  also  the 
decision  of  the  Brehon  respecting  a  mortage  on  these 
lands.2  We  possess  also  a  copy  of  the  lands  held 
under  the  lordship  of  Mac-con-mara,  A.D.  1375. 
This  rent  roll  was  made  by  the  stewards  and  shows 
that  the  Chief  of  Clancuilein  then  received  tribute 
from  some  130  town  lands,  and  that  his  wife  received 
tribute  "  exclusive  of  the  lord's  rights."  3  This  tribute 
amounted  to  about  1820  ounces  of  silver,  which  in 
practice  was  paid  in  cattle.  This  amount  did  not 
include  rents  and  profits  arising  from  the  chiefs  own 
estates.  Beyond  this  the  head  of  the  Sept  still 
possessed  the  right  of  "  food  in  the  towns  lands  (over 
which  he  was  lord)  once  a  year/'  which  meant  he  could 

1  O'Brien's  "Memoirs,"  p.  139;  also  Patent  Roll,  dated  1388,  of 
Richard  II. 's  reign. 

2  Trans,  of  Roy.  Soc.  of  Ant.  of  Ireland,  vol.  xv.  p.  20. 
3 Idem.,  p.  45;   also  Frost's  "Clare,"  p.  182. 


262  THE   IRISH   CELT 

every  twelve  months  billet  himself  and  his  servants  free 
of  charge,  on  those  landholders  who  farmed  or  occupied 
the  lands  above  referred  to.  In  this  way  a  chief  of  such 
a  Sept  as  that  of  Clancuilein  would  have  possessed  a 
large  income,  and  his  power  over  his  retainers  was 
technically  without  limit,  but  practically  he  had  to  con- 
form to  the  will  of  his  tribesmen  as  a  body,  for  he  was 
not  only  elected  to  office  by  them,  but  would  speedily 
have  been  made  to  yield  had  he  attempted  to  violate 
public  opinion.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the 
Celtic  chiefs  abused  their  right  to  "  coyne  and  livery  " 
or  billeting  their  retainers  on  their  landholders,  as  their 
English  neighbours  within  the  Pale  certainly  did,  for 
in  the  preamble  to  a  Bill  passed  by  the  Dublin  Parlia- 
ment of  1449,  we  read  that  "in  the  time  of  harvest 
companies  of  English  soldiers  were  in  the  habit  of 
going  with  their  wives,  children,  servants,  and  friends, 
sometimes  to  the  number  of  hundreds,  to  the 
farmers'  houses,  eating  and  drinking,  and  paying  for 
nothing."  They  "  many  times  rob,  spoil,  and  kill  the 
tenants  and  husbandmen,  as  well  by  night  as  by  day," 
and  their  horses  were  turned  out  to  graze  in  the 
meadows  and  in  the  ripe  corn,  ruining  all  the  harvest, 
and  if  there  was  any  show  of  resistance,  they  burn, 
rob,  spoil,  and  kill,  and  for  the  most  part  the  land  is 
wasted,  and  destroyed.1  We  have  no  evidence  what- 
ever of  practices  such  as  these  in  that  part  of  Ireland 
which  was  governed  by  the  native  chiefs  under  the 
Brehon  laws. 

1  "  A  Short  History  of  Ireland,"  by  P.  W.  Joyce,  LL.D.,  p.  337  ; 
Gilbert's  "  Viceroys,"  p.  355. 


CHAPTER    IV 

THE  "  Four  Masters  "  inform  us  that  in  1428  the 
"  Chief  of  the  Clancuilein  died  a  charitable  and  truly 
hospitable  man,  who  suppressed  robbery  and  theft,  and 
established  peace  and  tranquillity  in  his  territories. 
Again  in  A.D.  1444  we  are  told  that  Sioda  Mac-con-mara 
died,  "he  was  the  chief  protector  of  the  men  of  Ireland," 
and  he  is  also  referred  to  in  the  Annals  of  Ulster  and  of 
Munster  as  having  been  renowned  for  his  hospitality. 
We  take  these  posthumous  observations  at  their  pro- 
bable value,  but  as  they  are  recorded  in  the  Annals  of 
Ireland,  we  are  therefore  justified  in  making  use  of 
them  as  evidence  of  traits  of  character  of  Celtic  chiefs 
of  the  fifteenth  century. 

This  century  was  not  destined  to  close  in  peace  so 
far  as  the  inhabitants  of  Clare  were  concerned.  Sir 
James,  a  natural  son  of  the  sixth  Earl  of  Ormond, 
arrived  in  the  West  of  Ireland,  claiming  to  be  the  heir 
to  the  title  and  lands  of  his  father.  Sir  James  was 
received  by  the  O'Briens,  Clancuileins,  and  the 
Clanricardes.  These  families  being  closely  connected 
by  marriage  with  the  late  Earl,  were  glad  to  support 
an  Ormond  in  opposition  to  the  Earl  of  Kildare,  who 
since  Ormond's  death  had  assumed  paramount  power 
over  Ireland,  and  had  been  appointed  Lord  Deputy  of 
that  country  by  Henry  the  Seventh.  Kildare,  how- 
ever, had  been  recalled  to  England  by  the  King,  and 
while  there  married  the  sister  of  the  lawful  heir  to  the 


264  CONFLICT   BETWEEN 

Ormond  estates  in  Ireland.  On  the  Lord  Deputy's 
return  to  Dublin  he  quarrelled  with  the  O'Briens,  his 
real  motive  being  to  punish  them  for  the  support  they 
had  afforded  to  Sir  James  Ormond.  Kildare  marched 
into  Clare  with  a  considerable  force  and  surprised  and 
took  one  of  the  strongest  of  the  Clancuilein  fortified 
dwellings.  Leaving  a  garrison  in  this  place  he  moved 
on  to  Quin,  where  he  was  met  by  O'Brien,  the 
Clancuilein  and  other  Dalcasian  Septs,  and  was  utterly 
defeated  (A.D.  1499).  Kildare  with  difficulty  made 
good  his  retreat  across  the  Shannon. 

The  result  of  alliances  made  through  the  inter- 
marriage of  the  O'Briens  and  Mac-con-maras  with 
the  neighbouring  Anglo-Norman  noblemen,  produced 
in  the  end  disastrous  results  to  the  Celtic  chiefs. 
The  head  of  the  Clanricardes  at  this  time  was  Ulick 
Bourke,  whose  first  wife  had  been  a  daughter  of  Sioda 
Mac-con-mara  ;  after  her  death  he  married  a  daughter 
of  the  Lord  Deputy  Kildare  ;  but  he  was  accused  of 
ill  treating  this  lady.  At  any  rate,  she  left  him,  and 
so  angry  was  Kildare  that  he  determined  to  be 
revenged  on  his  daughter's  husband ;  and  at  the  same 
time  he  hoped  by  weakening  the  Clanricarde's  power 
in  the  West  of  Ireland  to  enable  the  English  more 
effectually  to  humble  the  O'Briens,  and  other  Septs  of 
Thomond. 

Kildare  persuaded  the  chiefs  of  the  North  of  Ireland 
to  espouse  his  cause.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Clan- 
ricardes and  the  O'Briens  obtained  the  aid  of  the 
southern  chiefs ;  so  that  the  whole  of  the  Irish  of  the 
northern  part  of  the  country  were  brought  into  battle 
array  against  the  natives  of  the  southern  half  of  the 
island.  What  is  more  remarkable,  the  commander  of 


NORTHERN  AND  SOUTHERN  CELTS        265 

the  Irish  of  the  north  was  the  Earl  of  Kildare,  and  the 
commander  of  the  southern  Irish  army  was  Clanricarde, 
a  nobleman  of  Anglo-Norman  descent.  It  is  hardly 
possible  to  conceive  a  more  desperately  hopeless 
condition  of  things  than  that  the  Celtic  Irish  or  any 
other  people  should  have  been  thus  divided,  and 
brought  into  the  field  of  battle  by  commanders  who 
belonged  to  a  different  and  hostile  race,  and  whose 
object  was  to  urge  on  the  natives  to  destroy  one 
another,  so  that  the  English  might  profit  by  this  act 
of  national  suicide.  Kildare  no  doubt  to  some  extent 
made  Clauricarde's  treatment  of  his  daughter  the 
ostensible  cause  of  the  conflict ;  but  in  the  battle  he 
withdrew  his  English  troops  from  the  field,  and  allowed 
the  Irish  of  the  north  and  south  to  slaughter  one 
another  ;  which  they  did  most  effectually.  Not  a 
single  Englishman  was  even  wounded  in  this  battle. 

O  O 

The  two  armies  met  at  a  place  called  Knocktow, 
near  Galway,  on  the  19th  August  1504.  The  "Four 
Masters  "  state  that  a  victory  was  gained  over  Clanri- 
carde and  the  army  of  the  South  of  Ireland ;  only  a  small 
number  of  their  fighting  men  survived.  The  northern 
Irish  also  suffered  so  terribly  that  they  were  unable  to 
follow  up  their  victory,  but  collected  their  scattered 
forces  and  retired  from  the  field.  It  is  said  at  this 
moment  Lord  Gormanston  proposed  to  Kildare  that 
the  English  should  "consummate  their  good  fortune 
by  slautering  the  remains  of  the  Northern  army  who 
had  fought  for  them."  1 

The  Earl  of  Kildare  does  not  seem  to  have  taken 
advantage  of  the  weakened  state  of  the  Dalcasians 

1U  Memoirs  of  the  O'Briens,"  p.  156;  Macgeoghegan's  "History 
of  Ireland,"  p.  378. 


266  INTRODUCTION   OF   FIREARMS 

after  the  battle  of  Knocktow  ;  but  in  the  year  1510, 
having  overcome  the  Irish  of  South  Munster,  he 
determined  to  destroy  their  power  in  the  West  of 
Ireland.  The  Lord  Deputy,  therefore,  marched  an 
army  westward,  and  reaching  the  Shannon  at  Killaloe 
he  destroyed  the  wooden  bridge  over  the  river,  and 
then  marched  northward  east  of  the  river,  intending 
in  the  first  place  to  attack  the  O'Carrolls  of  Ely. 
Torlogh  O'Brien,  with  Clancuilein  and  other  Dalcasian 
Septs,  forded  the  Shannon,  and  coming  up  on  Kildare's 
rear  completely  overcame  the  English ;  they  slew  the 
Barons  Kent  and  Barnewall  and  many  other  men  of 
distinction.  "The  English  only  escaped  by  flight, 
and  the  army  of  O'Brien  returned  home  in  triumph 
and  with  great  spoil." 

In  the  year  1522  we  learn  that  Teigie  O'Brien, 
while  leading  an  attack  was  killed  "  by  a  shot  of  a 
ball."  l  And  from  another  notice  we  find  that  artillery 
had  come  into  use  in  Ireland  ;  it  was  gunpowder  and 
cannon  that  sealed  the  fate  of  the  Irish  Celts,  for  the 
native  chiefs  had  no  means  of  obtaining  firearms,  and 
as  opposed  to  such  weapons  their  swords  and  spears 
were  useless.  The  last  battle  had  been  fought  under 
the  old  system  of  warfare  employed  by  the  Dalcasians 
against  the  English,  and  as  on  so  many  previous 
occasions,  physical  strength  and  courage,  with  such 
weapons  as  they  had,  enabled  them  to  drive  back 
their  foes,  and  to  preserve  their  lands  and  homes  in 
Clare.  In  the  long  run,  however,  it  is  not  to  the 
swift  and  strong,  but  by  science  and  brains  that  the 
victory  was  won. 

We  learn  something  of  the  condition  of  Ireland  at 

1  "  Annals  of  Four  Masters." 


INTO  IRELAND  267 

this  period  from  the  State  Papers  of  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII.  Ireland  was  then  ruled  by  some  sixty 
chief  Captains  or  Princes,  each  one  of  them  "  only 
liveth  by  the  sword,  and  obeyeth  unto  no  temporal 
person  but  only  to  himself  that  is  strong  "  ;  the  son 
of  such  a  chief  "  shall  not  succeed  to  his  father 
without  he  be  the  strongest  of  the  tribe,  and  by 
election."  There  be  "also  petty  captains,  and  every 
one  maketh  war  and  peace  for  himself,  without 
licence  of  the  chief  captain."  The  English  folks  in 
Ireland  "  be  of  Irish  habit,  of  Irish  language,  except 
in  the  cities  and  walled  towns."  But  the  English, 
it  is  argued,  would  gladly  accept  the  King's  laws,  and 
protection  were  it  not  for  the  "  Irish  enemies."  No 
tribute  could  be  collected.  There  were  no  bishops, 
priors,  or  vicars  to  preach  the  word  of  God  ;  only 
"  poor  friar  beggars."  Every  semblance  of  English 
government  had  passed  away  from  Ireland.  "  The 
King  had  no  envoy  or  ally,  native  or  English,  in 
Ireland,  outside  its  walled  towns." 

The  Celtic  chiefs  must  have  felt  weary  of  constant 
internal  wars  and  that  it  was  useless,  if  desirable, 
to  oppose  King  Henry  VIII.,  in  fact  the  time  had 
arrived  for  something  approaching  a  settlement  of 
their  troubles,  if  only  their  lands  could  be  preserved 
to  them  and  their  tribesmen  ;  which  they  were  led 
to  believe  it  was  the  King's  intention  to  secure  to 
them  and  their  heirs. 

In  the  year  1542  St  Leger,  who  was  Lord  Deputy 
of  Ireland,  summoned  a  Parliament  to  meet  at 
Limerick  with  the  object  of  legalising  an  agreement 
with  the  Chiefs  of  Thomond  regarding  the  tenure  of 
the  land,  and  for  other  questions  concerning  the  legal 


268  HENRY    VIII.    SETTLEMENT 

government  of  that  part  of  the  country.  Morrogh 
O'Brien  and  Sioda  Mac-con-mara  came  to  Limerick  to 
meet  the  Lord  Deputy  with  documents  which  they 
had  prepared,  stating  the  terms  upon  which  they  were 
willing  to  hand  over  their  lands  to  the  Crown,  the 
basis  of  this  undertaking  being  that  the  landlords 
of  Clare  should  receive  their  lands  back  with  titles 
drawn  up  according  to  English  law  and  procedure. 
These  title  deeds  are  still  in  existence,  dated  December 
10th,  A.D.  1542,  after  being  confirmed  by  a  Patent, 
35  Henry  VIII.,  A.D.  1543. 

When  Henry  VIII.  accepted  the  terms  proposed  by 
the  landowners  of  Clare,  he  directed  the  Lord  Deputy 
to  take  special  care  that  "  neany  of  them  suffer  any 
displeasure  nor  damage  hereafter  for  their  submission, 
but  you  are  to  aid  them  and  see  the  same  revenged 
as  the  case  shall  require."  1  Nevertheless,  under  this 
agreement  it  was  assumed,  in  spite  of  immemorial 
usage,  that  the  land  was  to  become  the  absolute 
hereditary  property  of  the  chiefs  who  agreed  to  Henry 
VIII. 's  terms,  to  the  detriment,  therefore,  of  their 
tribesmen  and  the  real  occupiers  of  the  soil,  and  was 
therefore  a  great  and  irreparable  injury  to  the  humbler 
classes.2  So  far,  however,  as  the  leaders  of  the 
Clancuilein  Sept  were  concerned,  it  seems  clear  that 
they  urged  the  ruling  powers  to  extend  English 
land  tenure  into  the  West  of  Ireland.  They  under- 
stood the  nature  of  the  agreement  they  were  entering 
into  with  the  Crown  on  "  behalf  of  themselves  and  all 
the  rest  of  the  gentlemen  and  freeholders  of  the  said 
Sept  in  the  baronies  of  Bunratty."  It  was  in  that 

1  State  Papers,  vol.  iii.  p.  476. 

2  Lecky's  "  History  of  Ireland,"  vol.  i.  p.  16. 


WITH   IRISH  CELTS 

area  that  the  Sept  originally  obtained  their  tribal 
lands  in  the  fifth  century,  and  they  were  in  possession 
of  these  same  lands  in  the  year  1654,  or  a  century 
after  entering  into  their  agreement  with  Henry  VIII. 
The  object  of  that  arrangement  was  to  bring  the  titles 
of  the  landed  property  from  under  the  Brehon  laws, 
into  such  form  that  they  could  be  held  in  conformity 
with  English  law.  The  King  thoroughly  appreciated 
the  difficulty  that  existed  in  granting  negotiable  titles 
to  the  owners  of  the  old  tribal  lands  on  equitable 
terms,  but  whatever  the  technical  difficulties,  his 
Government  were  emphatic  in  their  orders  as  regards 
the  parties  concerned,  who  were  to  lose  nothing  that  was 
essential  to  their  interests  or  customs ;  the  King  had 
no  idea  of  making  the  transfer  of  land  from  the  old  to 
the  new  system  a  means  of  confiscation  or  damage  to 
the  landowners.  But  the  question  at  once  arose  as  to 
how  the  land  in  Clare,  which  was  freehold,  a  part  of 
the  old  tribal  lands,  could  be  brought  under  English 
law.  As  Edmund  Spenser  remarked,  the  "  lawes  ought 
to  be  fashioned  into  the  manners  and  conditions  of 
the  people  for  whom  they  are  meant,  and  not  to  be 
imposed  upon  them  according  to  the  simple  rule  of 
right,  for  then,  instead  of  good,  they  might  work  ill, 
and  pervert  justice  to  extreame  injustice." l  It  would 
have  been  well  for  Ireland  had  Henry  VIII.  's  policy 
been  adhered  to  by  his  successors. 

Among  other  things  the  King  determined  to 
establish  courts  of  justice  in  Ireland,  which  were  to  be 
constituted  of  the  bishops  of  the  dioeese  and  some  of 
the  principal  landowners.  The  officers  forming  these 
courts  were  to  be  charged  with  extensive  powers, 

1  "  View  of  the  State  of  Ireland,"  by  Edmund  Spenser,  p.  17. 


270  COUNTY  CLARE 

embracing  military  operations ;  at  the  same  time 
sheriffs  were  appointed,  and  a  nucleus  formed  from 
which  a  regular  judicial  system  might  have  developed 
to  enforce  order  and  law  in  the  province.  Beyond 
this,  schools  were  to  be  established  and  maintained  by 
local  cesses  raised  for  the  purpose.  But  there  was  no 
adequate  provision  made  for  enforcing  these  salutary 
reforms  ;  they  were  mostly  arrangements  the  outcome 
of  good  intentions,  but  wanting  in  material  support  to 
carry  them  into  effect.  For  instance,  Sir  E.  Fitton 
had  been  appointed  President  of  the  province  of 
Connaught,  and  in  A.D.  1570  he  proposed  holding  a 
court  of  eighteen  days'  duration,  in  the  Monastery  of 
Ennis,  County  Clare,  "  to  administer  justice  "  and  to 
reduce  Clancuilein  and  other  Dalcasian  Septs  to  order. 
Teigie  O'Brien  was  appointed  the  first  sheriff  of  Clare, 
and  he  placed  a  quantity  of  food  and  drink  in  the 
monastery  for  the  use  of  the  President ;  and  seems  to 
have  considered  this  to  be  all  that  was  necessary. 

For  on  the  day  following  when  Sir  Edward  arrived, 
he  sent  off  a  message  to  the  Earl  of  Thomond  and 
summoned  him  to  Ennis.  On  receiving  this  message,  we 
are  told,  the  Earl  came  to  the  resolution  of  making  a 
prisoner  of  the  President  and  his  officers.  Sir  Edward 
Fitton  finding  his  position  rather  uncomfortable, 
escaped  from  the  monastery  on  foot,  and  was  fortunate 
in  finding  a  guide  to  conduct  him  over  the  narrow 
passes  and  intricate  paths  of  the  district.1  Queen 
Elizabeth,  who  had  come  to  the  throne,  would  not 
tolerate  this  kind  of  thing,  and  the  Earl  of  Ormond 
was  directed  to  proceed  at  once  with  a  sufficient  force 
into  Clare  to  bring  the  Earl  of  Thomond  into  order. 
1  "  Annals  of  Four  Masters,"  A.D.  1570. 


IN   THE    YEAR   1570  271 

He  accomplished  this  purpose,  and  in  the  following 
year  the  President  of  Connaught  came  to  Ennis, 
accompanied  by  a  strong  force  and  "  established  laws 
and  rules,  and  abolished  injustice  and  lawlessness." 
To  secure  obedience  to  these  laws  he  carried  hostages 
from  among  the  Clancuileins  and  other  Septs  of 
Thomond  along  with  him  to  his  headquarters  in 
Athlone.  The  "  Four  Masters  "  state  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult "  to  calculate  the  hundreds  of  cows  given  to  the 
President  of  Connaught  by  the  men  of  Thomond 
during  the  two  years  he  remained  in  the  territory," 
in  other  words,  he  took  such  large  bribes  that,  even  in 
those  lax  times,  the  Government  were  compelled  to 
recall  him  to  England. 

Edmund  Spenser  refers  to  these  corrupt  practices 
in  Ireland  as  very  prevalent  in  his  day.  Writing  of 
military  commanders  he  observes  :  "  the  captaine, 
halfe  of  whose  souldiours  are  dead,  and  the  other 
quarter  never  mustered,  nor  scene,  conies  shortly  to 
demand  payment  of  the  whole  accompt,  where  by 
good  meanes  of  some  great  ones,  and  privy  shareing 
with  the  officers  and  servants  of  other  some,  he  re- 
ceiveth  his  debt,  much  less  perhaps  than  was  due,  yet 
much  more  indeede  than  is  justly  deserved  "  ( "  View 
of  the  State  of  Ireland,"  by  Edmund  Spenser,  p.  154). 

The  Lord  Deputy  Sidney  made  an  official  visit  to 
Clare  in  the  year  1571  ;  he  states  he  there  met  "  two 
Lords  of  Thomond  called  Mac  Nemarroes,  who  came 
lamentinge  the  ruyn  and  wast  of  their  countries " ; 
the  Lord  Deputy  adds  "  they  were  cheife  gentlemen 
of  that  countrey,  which,  if  it  were  quiet,  they  might 
lyve  lyke  principal  Knights  of  England."  Sidney 
states,  of  all  the  chief  men  he  met  with  in  his  tour  he 


272  CELTS  OP  IRELAND  A  PURE 

"  could  not  find  one  descended  in  English  race.  They 
all  complained  of  the  Obryens  for  the  ruyne  of  their 
countrey  ;  and  truly  in  such  desolation  and  waste  it 
is."  The  Lord  Deputy  remained  for  some  time  in 
Galway,  and  bound  the  O'Briens  "  by  bonds  of  great 
sommes,"  and  further  he  carried  off  the  Earl's  brother 
with  him  to  Dublin,  where  he  "  still  deteined  hym  in 
iron."  Sir  H.  Sidney  states  that  "  the  root  and 
origine  of  all  this  trouble  was  the  uncerteine  grannte, 
and  unstable  possession  of  their  landes,  whereupon 
grewe  their  warres."  He  further  informs  the  English 
Government  that  "  I  brought  them  to  agree  to 
surrender  into  the  Queene's  handes,  and  to  take  it 
of  her  Highness  agayne,  and  yeilde  both  rent  and 
service,  and  therefore  I  have  confidence  to  make  a 
good  reckninge  for  the  Queen" 

The  Lord  Deputy  proposed,  therefore,  in  place  of  the 
cesses  and  other  charges  formerly  paid  by  the  land- 
holders to  their  landlords  and  chiefs,  that  they  should 
pay  a  fixed  rent  to  the  landlord,  and  that  the  latter 
were  to  yield  to  the  Crown  a  definite  amount  per 
annum  in  proportion  to  the  extent  and  value  of  their 
landed  property.  This,  however,  was  an  altogether 
different  arrangement  to  that  the  landholders  had  just 
before  made  with  the  Crown ;  it  substituted  the 
system  of  land  tenure  of  England  for  that  which  had 
existed  from  time  immemorial  in  Ireland,  and  for  which 
its  people  had  striven  through  so  many  generations  to 
maintain. 

In  the  year  1570  the  "Four  Masters"  refer  to  the 
death  of  "  Mac-con-mara,  Chief  of  Clancuilein,  a  most 
noble  and  majestic  man,"  who  was  followed  as  head  of 
the  Sept  by  his  tanist,  so  that  not  only  was  this  form 


RACE   IN   THE   YEAR   1570  273 

of  succession  in  force  among  members  of  the  Sept  at 
the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  but  also  the 
old  system  of  the  chieftainship  of  the  clan  was  also 
a  recognised  condition  of  their  social  system.  We 
further  discover  from  a  deed  dated  January  27,  1585, 
relating  to  property  held  by  a  certain  John  Mac-con- 
mara  who  had  recently  died,  that  although  a  large 
landowner  he  could  not  give  any  account  of  his  rental 
during  his  lifetime  to  the  appointed  governor  of  the 
province.  Sir  R.  Bingham  states  that  "neither  the 
owner  of  the  lands,  nor  anyone  else,  knew  for  certain 
how  much  rent  they  had  or  ought  to  pay  on  any  of 
these  lands."  The  estates  referred  to  belonged  to  the 
son  of  the  Chief  of  Clancuilein  who  had  signed  the 
agreement  with  the  Crown  in  Henry  VIII.'s  time  on 
behalf  of  himself  and  the  other  landlords  of  his  Sept. 
They  had  in  truth  never  received  rent  as  understood 
by  Englishmen.  The  excess  of  land  which  the 
possessor  did  not  require  for  his  own  purposes,  he 
made  over  to  various  members  of  the  family  to 
cultivate,  they  supplying  him  with  a  certain  quantity 
of  stock  to  enable  him  to  keep  open  house,  and  also 
with  personal  service.  The  management  of  the 
property  was  still  a  conjoint  family  affair.  The  out- 
turn of  the  soil  was  consumed  by  man  and  beast 
living  on  the  land  which  produced  the  stock  and  grain. 
In  the  deed  above  referred  to  we  find  that  the 
"  Borome  "  tax  was  still  collected  in  Clare.  This  tax 
consisted  of  a  certain  number  of  cows  which  had  to 
be  handed  over  by  landholders  every  year  to  their 
chief.  Besides  this,  upon  "  {he  marriage  of  his  eldest 
daughter  the  number  of  xx  cows  was  received  from 
the  barony,"  and  further,  "  that  the  towns  and 


274  HEREDITARY  CHARACTERISTICS 

villages  named  (they  form  a  long  list)  were  bound  to 
keep  and  beare  the  said  Mac-con-mara's  horses  and 
horse-boys,  with  sufficient  horse-meat  and  boys-meat 
every  Christmas  and  Easter,  when  he  kept  any  of  the 
said  feast  at  his  house  or  town  of  Dengen  and  not  els." 
This  tax  might  be  compounded  by  a  yearly  payment 
of  sixteen  pecks  of  oats.  The  landlords,  kearntyes,  and 
huntsmen  had  "  dutys  upon  certain  quarters  of  lands 
in  the  barrony  always  freely  acquitted  and  discharged 
free  of  all  demands."  The  contents  of  this  document 
therefore  proves  that  cesses  instituted  by  the  early 
Celts  of  Clare  were  in  force  at  the  close  of  the 
sixteenth  century. 

The  arrangement  concerning  the  tenure  of  land  by 
Sir  H.  Sidney  and  other  Elizabethan  officials,  beyond 
destroying  the  old  system  of  land  tenure  was  attended 
with  the  intrusion  of  the  middleman  or  land  agent 
into  Ireland.  These  individuals  were  the  instigators 
of  rack-rent,  and  of  a  large  part  of  the  land  passing 
into  the  hands  of  non-resident  landlords,  who  cared 
nothing  for  their  property,  or  the  tenants  and 
labouroughs  on  their  lands.  As  far  back  as  the  year 
1596,  Lord  Burghley  complained  that  the  Englishmen 
who  succeeded  to  the  estates  of  the  ancient  Celtic 
landowners,  made  over  their  lands  to  "  deputies,  who 
take  greater  rents  than  that  allowed  by  Her  Majesty, 
and  so  they  are  forced  to  re-let  the  ground  to  the 
Irish  without  maintaining  any  English  on  the  pro- 
perty."1 Lord  Burghley  corroborates  the  accuracy  of 
the  statement  made  by  the  Earl  of  Kildare,  that  the 
middleman  demanded  extraordinary  cesses  over  the 
whole  country,  a  practice  which  rapidly  developed  and 

1  State  Papers  of  1596-7,  p.  182. 


OF   THE   FIRST   CELTS  275 

caused  infinitely  greater  hardships  than  the  cesses 
enforced  under  the  Celtic  customs  and  laws. 

For  our  purposes  it  is  unnecessary  to  follow  the 
history  of  members  of  the  Clancuilein  Sept  through 
the  reigns  of  James  the  First,  and  of  Charles  the  First, 
until  they  were  for  the  most  part  dispossessed  of  their 
lands  and  dispersed  by  Cromwell.  We  have  in 
another  work  given  an  account  of  some  of  the 
descendants  of  the  members  of  this  Celtic  family  from 
the  commencement  of  the  seventh  century  up  to  the 
present  time. 

Goethe  observes,  that  the  history  of  a  people  is  their 
character  ;  it  was  from  a  study  of  the  history  of  the 
early  Celts  in  Europe  which  led  M.  Thierry,  and 
Mommsen  to  form  the  opinions  we  have  referred  to 
(p.  211)  as  to  the  hereditary  character  possessed  by 
this  race  of  human  beings.  By  comparing  the  con- 
clusions arrived  at  by  these  historians  on  this  subject, 
with  those  to  be  derived  from  the  history  of  the  Irish 
Celts,  it  is  evident  that  the  traits  of  hereditary 
character  which  governed  the  conduct  and  career  of 
the  progenitors  of  these  people,  also  ruled  the  cgnduct 
of  individuals  and  the  destinies  of  the  Irish  Celts. 
For  we  find  them  to  have  been — 

A  chivalrous  people  (p.  220),  that  is,  a  generous,  high- 
minded  and  brave  set  of  men  ;  as  an  instance  in  point, 
we  may  refer  to  the  action  of  one  of  their  remote 
ancestors,  Connel.  As  the  historian  observes,  "  his 
integrity  was  such  that  he  delivered  up  possession  of 
a  crown  which  he  was  able  to  defend,  because  he  had 
no  other  right  to  it."  It  must  be  remembered  this 
was  the  action  of  a  man  who  lived  in  times  previous 
to  the  introduction  of  Christianity  into  Ireland. 


276  HEREDITARY   CHARACTERISTICS 

Another  example  of  the  chivalrous  conduct  of  these 
people  is  afforded  by  the  action  of  Sioda,  who,  in  the 
eighth  century,  having  with  his  Sept  been  deeply 
injured,  and  the  sacred  mound  of  Magadhair  desecrated 
by  the  King  of  Ireland,  after  three  days'  fighting 
Sioda  took  the  King  prisoner.  But  so  far  from 
torturing  or  punishing  the  vanquished  chief,  we  are 
told  that  Sioda  treated  him  sumptuously,  and  con- 
ducted him,  and  the  remains  of  his  forces  homewards 
across  the  Shannon. 

If  we  pass  on  to  the  fourteenth  century  we  find 
De  Clare  attempting  to  bribe  Mac-con-mara  to  desert 
the  cause  of  his  chief  O'Brien.  Mac-con,  however,  and 
his  retainers,  without  hesitation  refused  to  listen  to 
overtures  of  this  nature,  and  he  and  Clancuilein 
remained  staunch  supporters  of  their  lawful  ruler  ;  in 
fact  it  was  through  their  assistance  that  Mortough 
O'Brien  retained  his  position  as  Chief  of  Thomond. 
This  incident  occurred  at  a  period  when,  according 
to  Mr  Freeman,  an  English  Ealdorman  not  only 
deliberately  betrayed  his  country  to  the  .invader,  but 
tbat  "  to  do  so  now  became  the  regular  course  on  the 
part  of  royal  favourities."  x 

In  the  year  1370  we  find  the  Earl  of  Desmond  in 
command  of  a  force  of  English  troops,  bent  on  reducing 
the  Dalcasians  of  Clare  to  submission  to  his  rule  ;  the 
Earl  however  was  defeated,  taken  prisoner,  and 
conducted  to  the  residence  of  the  O'Briens  at  Clonrode. 
Desmond  was  so  strongly  impressed  with  what  he  saw 
of  the  life  and  training  of  the  Celtic  O'Briens  that  he 
sent  his  son  James  to  be  reared  among  them.  We 
might  refer  to  other  examples  illustrating  the  chivalrous 

1  "  History  of  the  Norman  Conquest  of  England,"  p.  139. 


OF   THE    IRISH   CELTS  277 

character  of  the  leaders  of  the  Dalcasians.  Shortly 
before  their  expulsion  from  their  homes,  we  have 
evidence  bearing  upon  this  subject  given  by 
English  officials,  who  had  no  love  for  the  men  they 
refer  to.  The  first  of  these,  we  may  mention,  is  that  of 
the  Lord  Deputy,  dated  A.LX  1543  ;  he  wrote  to  Henry 
VIII.  suggesting  that  Sioda  Mac-con-rnara  should  be 
created  Baron  Clancuilein,  "  because  he  and  his  ancestors 
have  in  those  parts  alwayes  borne  a  great  swynge,  and 
one  that  for  himself  is  of  honest  conformatie,  whose 
lands  lye  holy  on  the  farsyde  of  the  Shannon."  l 

Brave  to  a  fault  were  the  members  of  this  Sept, 
foremost  among  a  tribe,  whose  pride  it  was  to  lead 
the  van  of  an  advancing  force,  and  who  claimed 
equally  as  their  right  the  honour  of  protecting  it,  and 
forming  the  rearguard  in  time  of  disaster  and  retreat ; 
and  so  we  find  them  at  Clontaf,  and  in  many  another 
hard  fought  battle.  O'Donovan  and  others  well 
versed  in  the  history  of  Thomond,  assert  that  had 
it  not  been  for  the  personal  bravery  and  devotion  of 
the  Chiefs  of  Clancuilein,  the  O'Briens  could  not  have 
held  their  own  in  Clare  or  prevented  the  Northesrnen, 
and  subsequently  the  English,  from  taking  possession 
of  their  lands  in  the  tenth  and  fourteenth  centuries. 
The  leaders  of  Clancuilein  placed  their  lives  absolutely 
at  the  service  of  their  leaders ;  they  were  ready  to 
fight  and  to  die  in  defence  of  his  interests  ;  and  in 
these  old  times  war  made  men  staunch  and  true  to 
one  another.  We  could  hardly  have  a  better  instance 
of  this  than  in  the  case  of  S.  Mac-con-mara,  who, 
when  a  hostile  force  approached  Quin  in  the  year 
1278,  with  a  small  band  of  retainers  entered  the 

1  Patent  34,  Henry  VIII.,  Dec.  10,  1542. 


278  HEREDITARY   CHARACTERISTICS 

enemy's  camp  at  daybreak,  with  the  object  of 
engaging  the  leader  of  the  hostile  force  in  single 
combat.  He  fought  his  way  onwards  until  overpowered 
and  he  and  his  followers  were  all  slaughtered.  Then 
again  in  the  account  of  the  battle  of  Corcomroe, 
Macgrath  dilates  on  the  conduct  of  the  leader's  youthful 
relative  who  came  to  his  support  in  a  critical  moment ; 
we  have  a  similar  instance  in  the  case  of  the  lad 
Turlough  O'Brien,  who  was  his  father's  standard- 
bearer  and  fought  by  his  side  throughout  the  day, 
dying  in  the  grasp  of  one  of  the  enemy.  In  the 
description  the  historian  gives  us  of  the  after  scene 
of  the  battle  of  Corcomroe  there  is  nothing  of  slaughter 
of  the  wounded,  but  rather  that  "  they  were  no  longer 
foes  but  brothers  in  trouble."  War  was  one  of  the 
duties  of  life  among  these  people,  the  serious  side 
of  the  subject  did  not  afflict  the  soul  of  these  light- 
hearted  Celts. 

Loyal  were  the  head  of  this  Sept  and  their  followers 
to  their  own  chiefs  and  to  their  province,  patriotism 
in  its  true  sense  was  one,  if  not  the  most  potent 
influence  in  guiding  their  actions.  However  desperate 
the  venture  the  head  of  the  Sept  could  at  any  moment 
command  the  devoted  services  of  a  thoroughly  trained 
body  of  his  relations  and  dependants,  who  were 
prepared  to  accompany  him  in  any  warlike  expedition 
his  leaders  had  determined  to  carry  out.  When  the 
split  took  place  in  the  thirteenth  century  among  the 
O'Briens,  it  became  necessary  for  the  Clancuilein 
Sept  to  choose  which  faction  they  should  support, 
and  they  determined  to  throw  in  their  lot  with 
Turlough  O'Brien  because  he  had  married  the  daughter 
of  their  chief ;  and  so  in  other  cases  their  hereditary 


OF  THE   IRISH  CELTS  279 

qualities  bound  them  to  one  another  and  to  their 
ruler,  qualities  inherited  from  a  common  ancestor, 
and  having  a  common  aim,  the  freedom  of  their  homes 
and  lands.  This  bond  of  union  was  the  keystone  on 
which  their  actions  were  based.  Their  chiefs  were 
elected  by  the  members  of  their  Sept  as  being  by 
birth  and  personal  prowess  the  fittest  man  to  rule  and 
to  lead  them,  and  so  far  as  the  history  of  Thomond 
goes,  there  is  no  evidence  of  tyrannical  or  unjust 
dealings  recorded  of  any  one  of  the  Clancuilein  leaders. 
The  members  of  the  Sept  were  not  only  loyal  to  their 
chiefs,  but  also  to  themselves  ;  they  did  their  duty 
and  were  content  to  leave  the  issue  to  be  judged  of 
by  its  results,  and  in  the  hands  of  the  bards. 
Gentlemen  at  heart,  that  is  having  a  tender  regard  for 
the  feelings  of  those  with  whom  they  were  brought  in 
contact,  unselfish,  and  reserved  as  to  their  own 
acquirements  and  actions. 

Light -hearted  and  hospitable.  These  qualities  seem 
to  have  been  marked  features  in  the  character  of  the 
Celts  and  were  conspicuous  in  members  of  the 
Clancuilein  Sept ;  frequent  references  are  made  to 
members  of  the  clan,  who  are  described  by  the  "  Four 
Masters  "  and  other  writers  as  being  "  charitable  and 
a  truly  hospitable  man,"  of  another  as  being 
"  renowned  for  hospitality,"  of  a  third  as  "  being  a 
favourite  of  women  and  children,  by  reason  of  his 
gaiety  and  pleasantry,"  and  so  on.  In  selecting  these, 
out  of  the  many  references  made  of  a  similar  nature 
to  members  of  the  Sept,  we  have  not  chosen  those 
favourably  noticed  and  excluded  unfavourable  references 
to  members  of  the  family  ;  the  latter,  if  they  exist,  do 
not  appear  in  the  various  annals  of  Ireland, 


280  HEREDITARY   CHARACTERISTICS 

The  love  of  money  was  a  snare  to  which  the  early 
Irish  Celts  were  never  exposed  or  into  which  they 
were  likely  to  fall ;  not  that  they  were  improvident, 
but  the  members  of  a  Sept  like  that  of  Clancuilein 
existed  without  money  until  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  The  Pope's  Nuncio,  in  one  of  his 
remarkable  reports  on  the  people  of  the  West  of 
Ireland  in  the  year  1648,  observes  that  these  people 
"  rarely  touch  money,  and  as  rarely  quarrell  about  it." 

Imaginative.  Mr  Lecky  states  that  Irishmen  are 
endowed  in  an  extraordinary  degree  with  retrospective 
imagination,  which  quality,  he  remarks,  is  characteristic 
of  these  people.  Too  many  of  them  live  habitually 
in  dreams,  largely  drawn  from  the  past,  and  of  future 
honour  and  glory,  to  which  they  have  not  sufficient 
perseverance  to  attain  by  steady  application  and  hard 
work.  If  we  refer  to  any  of  the  writers  who  attempt 
to  portray  the  character  of  Irish  men  and  women, 
we  are  struck  with  the  frequent  references  they  make 
to  the  scenes  and  customs  of  the  ancestors  of  those 
who  play  a  part  in  these  narratives.  The  bards  were 
versed  in  this  ancient  lore,  and  nothing  so  much 
pleased  the  Celts  as  to  listen  to  their  tales,  concerning 
the  part  taken  by  their  ancestors  in  the  struggles 
through  which  their  country  had  passed.1  There  are 
no  people  in  which  the  past  plays  so  important  a 
part  in  their  daily  life  as  the  Irish. 

xMr  A.  J.  Balfour  has  well  expressed  this  fact  when  he  stated, 
"  Anybody  who  had  not  realised  that  the  whole  history  of  Ireland 
consisted  of  memories,  not  only  of  250  years  or  500  years  old,  he 
would  venture  to  say  had  not  begun  to  understand  the  history  of 
that  country  "  (speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons,  June  7th? 
1895,  in  opposition  to  Mr  Morley's  proposal  to  raise  a  statute  to  the 
memory  of  Oliver  Cromwell). 


OF   THE   IRISH   CELTS  281 

Sir  J.  Davis  has  recorded  an  interesting  example  of  the 
devotion  of  the  Brehons  to  their  employers,  and  the  great 
value  they  set  upon  the  ancient  documents  committed  to 
their  care.  Sir  John  writes,  A.D.  1603,  as  follows  :  "  Touch- 
ing the  certainties  of  the  duties  and  provisions  yielded  to 
McGrath  out  of  these  lands,  they  referred  to  an  old  parch- 
ment roll,  which  was  in  the  hands  of  one  O'Brislau,  a 
chronicler  and  principal  Brehon  of  that  country  ;  where- 
upon O'Brislau  was  sent  for,  who  lived  not  far  from  the 
camp,  who  was  so  aged  and  decrepid,  as  he  was  scarce  able 
to  repair  to  us  ;  when  he  was  come,  we  demanded  of  him  a 
sight  of  this  ancient  roll.  The  old  man  seemed  to  be  much 
troubled  with  this  demand,  made  answer  that  he  had  such 
a  roll  in  his  keeping  before  the  wars,  but  that  in  the  late 
rebellion  it  was  burnt  among  other  papers  and  books  by 
certain  English  soldiers.  We  were  told  by  some  present 
that  this  was  not  true,  they  affirmed  that  they  had  seen 
the  roll  in  his  hands  since  the  wars.  Thereupon  my  Lord 
Chancellor  being  present  with  us  did  minister  an  oath  to 
him,  and  gave  him  a  very  serious  charge  to  inform  us  truly 
of  what  had  become  of  the  roll.  The  poor  old  man,  fetching 
a  deep  sigh,  confessed  that  he  knew  where  the  roll  was, 
but  that  it  was  dearer  to  him  than  life,  and,  therefore,  he 
would  never  deliver  it  out  of  his  hands  unless  my  Lord 
Chancellor  would  take  the  like  oath  that  the  roll  should  be 
restored  to  him.  My  Lord  Chancellor,  smiling,  gave  him 
his  hand  and  his  word  that  he  should  have  the  roll  re-de- 
livered unto  him  if  he  would  suffer  us  to  take  a  view  and 
copy  thereof.  And  with  tears  in  his  eyes  the  old  Brehon 
drew  the  roll  out  of  his  bosom,  where  he  did  continually 
bear  it  about  him.  It  was  not  very  large,  but  it  was 
written  on  both  sides  in  fair  Irish  characters ;  howbeit, 
some  part  of  the  writing  was  worn  and  defaced  with  time 
and  ill-keeping.  We  then  caused  it  to  be  translated  into 
English,  and  perceived  how  many  vessels  of  butter,  and 
how  many  measures  of  meal,  and  how  many  porkers,  and 
such  gross  duties  did  arise  unto  McGrath  out  of  the  lands."  l 

1  "  Tracts  relating  to  Ireland,"  by  Sir  J.  Davies. 


282  HEREDITARY   CHARACTERISTICS 

Credulous.  It  has  been  said  with  truth  that  the 
Celt  is  endowed  with  intuitive  appreciation  of  all  that 
touches  the  mystical  and  supernatural.  Their  implicit 
faith  in  their  druids,  and  the  deep  and  lasting 
impression  they  entertain  concerning  "  banshees  "  and 
other  superstitions  which  play  a  very  real  and  impor- 
tant part  in  their  lives. 

The  emotional  disposition  of  Celtic  Irish  men  and 
women  has  above  all  other  obstacles  barred  their 
progress  as  a  people,  and  prevented  them  from  co- 
operating in  that  long  and  steady  pull  necessary  for 
the  firm  establishment  of  a  nation.  The  preponderance 
of  the  emotional  processes  over  the  intellectual  leads 
the  Celt  to  form  rapid  conclusions,  which  are  by  no 
means  always  lasting,  and  so  he  too  frequently  lends 
himself  to  schemes  which  upon  mature  consideration 
would  prove  to  have  but  little  to  recommend  them. 
He  is  thus  apt  to  be  carried  away  by  words  flowing 
from  a  fluent  tongue  to  follow  political  and  other 
phantoms,  rather  than  by  persevering  effort  to  ensure 
success  in  life.  It  has  been  fairly  said  the  creed  of 
the  Celt  is  that  "  it  ought  to  be — it  must  be — it  is," 
and  so  for  no  better  reason,  they  too  often  waste  their 
talents  and  mental  powers  in  efforts  wide  of  the  mark 
at  which  they  have  aimed. 

As  an  individual,  the  over-sensitive  Celt  easily  takes 
affront,  and  is  apt  to  consider  himself  injured  by 
persons  possessing  a  more  stable  mental  basis  ;  the 
advancement  of  another  person  in  life  thus  becomes 
tantamont  with  failure  on  the  part  of  the  less 
fortunate  individual,  and  so  jealousy  and  unreal 
grievances  are  apt  to  add  trouble  and  bitterness  to  the 
other  burdens  of  an  Irishman's  life.  The  sensitive  Celt 


OP   THE    IRISH   CELTS  283 

is  seldom  able  to  bear  the  hard  blows  endured  by  a 
tougher  race,  and  is  apt  to  shrink  within  himself  under 
the  strain  ;  he  is  often  therefore  shy  and  reserved, 
especially  in  the  presence  of  strangers ;  he  cannot 
bear  ridicule,  a  weakness  the  bards  of  old  realised  ; 
for  their  taunts  were  the  severest  punishment  a  chief 
or  any  other  man  could  be  exposed  to  in  former  times. 
The  Celt  cannot  forget  a  wrong,  real  or  imaginary, 
especially  if  perpetrated  by  one  who  has  been  his 
friend  ;  for  the  bond  of  friendship  with  the  Celt  is 
something  real,  and  so  in  proportion  is  the  offence  of 
one  who  breaks  this  tie.  Among  his  own  people,  and 
in  polite  society,  where  the  genius,  wit,  and  vivacity  of 
the  race  has  full  play,  the  Celt  is  seen  to  the  greatest 
advantage  from  a  social  point  of  view.  Beyond  the 
confines  of  his  own  home  his  intense  love  of  nature, 
deep  sympathy,  and  yearning  for  comradeship  not 
unfrequently  attract  men  strongly  to  him.  As 
soldiers  and  the  leaders  of  men,  this  quality,  now, 
as  of  old,  is  often  invaluable  ;  we  could  hardly  have  a 
more  apt  example  of  this  than  in  the  person  of  India's 
Viceroy,  Lord  Mayo,  the  devotion  and  respect  he  gained 
from  the  native  princes  was  very  remarkable. 

The  brightness  of  the  Celt,  both  in  men  and  women, 
is  the  result  of  their  inherited  emotional  natures,  and 
is  eminently  calculated  to  endow  life  with  a  charm 
which  has  marked  influence  for  good  in  this  careworn 
age.  There  is,  however,  another  side  to  the  picture ; 
the  qualities  which  render  Celtic  Irishmen  light- 
hearted,  renders  him  terribly  alive  to  the  pain  and 
grief  suffered  by  others.  The  anguish  of  mind  thus 
produced  he  is  apt  to  keep  to  himself,  and  the  greater 
his  grief  the  more  he  conceals  his  feelings  in  silence  ; 


284  HEREDITARY   CHARACTERISTICS 

his  sensitive  nature  too  often  shuns  sympathy,  and 
turns  for  relief  to  its  own  bitterness. 

The  old  Irish  Celts  held  their  women  in  tender 
regard,  and  so  females  were  treated  by  them  with 
consideration  such  as  they  then  received  among  few 
other  nations.  Especially  in  the  case  of  the  lower 
classes,  Irishwomen  were  never  held  to  be  the  slaves 
of  men  ;  they  were  employed  in  attending  to  their 
children,  in  weaving,  looking  after  the  domestic 
creatures  belonging  to  the  family,  and  such  like 
occupations.  "  These  women  were  chaste  as  girls  and 
as  wives,  and  when  young  endowed  with  taste,  and 
an  amount  of  refinement  and  manner  to  be  met  with 
among  few  other  classes  in  any  part  of  Europe." 

It  is  difficult  to  realise  a  state  of  society  such  as 
that  which  existed  among  the  members  of  the 
Clancuilein  Sept  until  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  Money  was  still  practically  unknown  to 
these  people,  there  was  no  such  thing  as  wealth  outside 
the  possession  of  land  and  stock  ;  no  tenant,  no  tithes, 
or  taxes,  beyond  a  fixed  tribute  on  the  land  ;  no  titles, 
the  social  scale  being  regulated  by  the  amount  of  land 
a  family  possessed  ;  there  was  no  central  government, 
no  army,  navy,  or  police;  no  poor  laws,  but  the  aged 
and  sick  were  nevertheless  cared  for,  as  they  are  under 
the  conjoint  family  system  in  India  at  the  present  day. 
The  land  was  all  in  all  to  these  people,  not  only  was 
their  social  position  ruled  by  it,  but  it  had  supplied  them 
and  their  forefathers  for  many  generations  with  the 
necessaries  of  life  in  the  way  of  food  and  garments, 
and  they  had  come  to  love  it,  and  cling  to  it  with 
an  intensity  of  feeling  such  as  that  referred  to  by 
Mr  W.  R.  Le  Faun,  in  his  excellent  retrospect  of  a 


OF  THE   IRISH   CELTS  285 

long  and  genial  life  spent  in  Ireland  ;  he  remarks, 
"  that  it  is  impossible  for  one  who  has  not  resided  in 
Ireland,  and  been  on  intimate  terms  with  the  .people, 
to  realise  the  intense  longing  which  animates  them  for 
the  possession  of  land,  no  matter  how  small  the 
holding." 

The  conditions  under  which  their  progenitors  lived 
for  centuries  in  dependence  on  the  soil  for  their 
existence,  and  their  social  and  political  status  had 
engendered  hereditary  characters  or  impression  on  the 
living  substance  of  iheir  central  nervous  system  which 
to  a  large  extent  influence,  their  conduct  throughout 
their  lives.  It  is  in  this  way  we  can  best  account  for 
that  intense  longing  for  the  possession  of  land  by  the 
Irish  to  which  Mr  Le  Faun  refers. 

We  can  thus  perhaps  to  some  extent  realise  the 
intense  bitterness  of  feeling  which  must  have  been 
excited  in  the  minds  of  the  Celtic  Irish  at  the  loss 
of  their  lands  under  the  ruthless  confiscation  carried 
out  by  Englishmen  during  the  Elizebethan  and 
Cromwellian  periods.  This  bitterness  has  also  become 
habitual,  and  can  only  be  appeased  by  means  which 
tend  to  restore  the  lands  of  Ireland  to  those  who 
with  their  families  will,  as  of  old,  live  upon  their  own 
holdings,  and  cultivate  it  for  their  own  advantage. 

M.  Thierry  and  Professor  Mommsen  have  both 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the  Celts  as  a  nation 
are  too  emotional  to  form  a  stable  form  of  govern- 
ment (p.  212).  Without  entering  on  a  discussion  as  to 
the  political  condition  of  Ireland  at  the  present  time 
or  of  the  treatment  her  people  have  received  by  their 
English  rulers,  we  find  incontrovertible  evidence  in 
the  history  of  these  people  of  the  inability  of  their 


286  HEREDITARY   CHARACTERISTICS 

Celtic  chiefs  to  sacrifice  their  own  interests  for  that  of 
their  country.  From  the  third  century  onwards  we 
find  their  leaders  inviting  foreigners  into  Ireland  to 
help  them  to  enforce  their  own  claims.  When  first 
the  Anglo-Normans  entered  on  the  conquest  of  Ireland 
her  provincial  kings  were  so  deeply  engrossed  in  thier 
own  quarrels  that  they  failed  to  resist  the  common 
enemy.  Again,  in  the  year  A.D.  1258,  the  four  Pro- 
vincial Chiefs  of  Ireland  met  in  order  to  settle  on  a 
common  line  of  action  of  defence  for  the  country  ;  the 
meeting  broke  up  because  these  four  men  could  not 
determine  which  of  them  was  to  take  precedence  at  their 
council.  Almost  the  last  battle  fought  by  the  Irish 
Celts  under  the  old  order  of  things  was  the  culminat- 
ing point  of  the  nation's  madness  ;  for  in  this  fierce 
engagement  the  inhabitants  of  the  North  and  South  of 
Ireland  were  brought  into  the  field  by  Anglo-Norman 
commanders,  with  a  force  of  armed  Englishmen 
standing  by  to  watch  the  Celts  destroy  one  another. 

In  the  preceding  pages  we  have  brought  together 
sufficient  evidence  to  demonstrate  the  nature  of  the 
hereditary  characters  possessed  by  the  men  of  a  Celtic 
tribe,  who  lived  in  a  fairly  constant  environment  for 
many  centuries  ;  and  if  historians  are  correct  in  their 
ideas  regarding  the  early  Celts  of  the  Continent  of 
Europe,  \ve  find  a  striking  affinity  between  their 
inherent  characters  and  those  possessed  by  their 
descendants  in  Ireland.  The  emotional  and  instinc- 
tive qualities  displayed  by  the  Irish  Celts  depended 
mainly,  according  to  our  theory,  on  their  heredi- 
tary characters  rather  than  on  the  result  of  what 
they  learnt  or  their  intellectual  acquirements,  which 
were  hardly  of  a  higher  order  than  those  of  the 


OF   THE   IRISH   CELTS  287 

wild  animals  who  roamed  through  the  forests  of 
Thorn  ond. 

In  applying  this  principle  to  the  members  of  the 
Clancuilein  Sept  we  have  the  advantage  of  knowing, 
that  until  the  early  part  of  the  last  century  many  of 
them  remained  pure  Iberio-Celts,  for  they  did  not  inter- 
marry with  other  races.  This  fact  is  proved  by  referr- 
ing to  the  pedigrees  of  some  of  these  families  which 
have  been  carefully  preserved,  and  we  find  from  the 
earliest  times,  that  as  a  rule,  the  principal  landholders 
of  the  Sept  always  married  into  Celtic  families  ;  as  Sir 
H.  Sidney  observes,  he  "  could  not  find  one  descended  in 
English  race."  Further,  these  people  for  many  cen- 
turies lived  the  life  of  agriculturists,  and  their 
surrounding  varied  but  little  throughout  this  long 
period.  They  were  never  conquered  until  Cromwell's 
time,  and  their  physical  and  hereditary  characters  at 
present  are  similar  to  those  possessed  by  their  ancestors, 
who  took  possession  of  Clare  in  the  fifth  century. 

We  hold  that  rightly  to  appreciate  the  actions  of 
human  beings  we  should  become  acquainted  with  the 
nature  of  the  materials  through  means  of  which  these 
actions  are  elaborated.  It  is  on  these  lines  we  have 
proceeded  in  this,  and  in  our  previous  book  on 
"  Human  Speech,"  endeavouring  to  test  the  operation 
of  the  principles  we  advocate  by  reference  to  the 
history  of  a  certain  tribe  of  individuals.  Led  by  the 
same  reasoning,  in  the  year  1899,  we  ventured  to 
predict,  what  in  our  opinion  would  be  the  ultimate 
relation  existing  between  the  English  and  Boers  in 
South  Africa.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  observe  at 
the  time  when  the  following  opinion  was  published,  we 
were  in  the  midst  of  a  severe  struggle  with  the  Boers, 


288  CONCLUSION 

and  that  national  feeling  on  both  sides  was  strained 
to  the  uttermost,  it  therefore  required  firm  faith  in 
our  opinions  to  enable  us  then  to  write  as  follows  on 
this  subject.1 

"  If  the  inhabitants  of  the  Transvaal  and  Orange 
Free  State  had  been  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the 
English  language,  and  so  with  our  real  sentiments 
and  ideas,  they  would  never  have  been  led  into  the 
terrible  conflict  in  which  they  are  now  engaged.  The 
Boers  are  of  the  same  Teutonic  stock  as  the  Anglo- 
Normans,  having  less  of  the  Iberian  element  in  them 
than  the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  British 
Isles.  Nevertheless,  like  ourselves  the  Boers  are 
derived  from  a  Teutonic  branch  of  the  human  family. 
It  remains  for  our  Government,  when  the  time  comes 
to  re-settle  the  revolted  provinces  of  South  Africa,  to 
bear  in  mind  the  racial  character  of  the  people  with 
whom  they  have  to  deal.  A  brave,  self-reliant, 
freedom-loving,  independent  race,  who  under  just  laws 
and  with  a  strict  regard  to  their  prejudices  arid  heredi- 
tary characters,  will  in  time  fraternise  with  Anglo- 
Saxons.  They  have  fought  hard,  like  the  Aryans  of 
India  (Sikhs)  for  their  country,  but  when  fairly  beaten 
they  are  bound,  as  education  spreads  among  them,  and 
they  learn  to  comprehend  our  language  and  modes  of 
thought,  to  become  a  strong  and  important  element  in 
the  British  Empire." 

1  "  Origin  and  Character  of  the  British  People,"  by  N.  C.  Mac- 
namara,  pp.  224,  225  (Smith,  Elder  &  Co.). 


INDEX 


A 

Actino  bolus  radians,  its  purposive  action,  17. 
Amoeba  proteus          „  „  „          14. 

„  „  „  memorial  impressions,  21. 

,,  „        •        ,,  experiences,  16,  21. 

„  „       Prof.  Berthold  on  movements  of,  8. 

Amphibia,  structure  of  brain  in,  84. 

„          no  evidence  of  a  neopallium,  84. 
„          sensory  organs  of,  85. 
Anthropoid  apes,  their  hereditary  characteristics,  125. 

„  „         „     instinctive  and  emotional  characters,  125. 

„  „        „     power  of  imitation,  128. 

„  „         ,,     cranial  capacity  of,  134. 

Ants,  defective  vision  of,  60-62. 
„     their  emotions,  71. 
„          „     olfactory  organs,  60. 
„         ,,     instinctive  actions,  71. 
,,     as  slaves,  71. 

Arthropoda,  arrangement  of  their  nervous  system,  40. 
Aryans,  their  hereditary  characteristics  (Part  II.),  209. 
Association  areas  in  human  brain,  150. 

„  „    their  function,  146. 

Associative  cortical  substance,  137. 

„  „  „          its  area  in  man,  138. 

„  „  „          importance,  146. 

£ 

Bacteria,  their  purposive  action,  14. 
Basal  ganglia,  rudiments  of,  in  insects,  72. 
cray-fish,  41. 

„  „        in  the  lamprey,  79. 

„  „  ,,       cartilaginous  fishes,  81. 

„  „        functions  of,  117,  118. 

289 


290  INDEX 

Basal  ganglia  in  lower  vertebrates,  88,  170-172. 

„         „         „  amphibians  and  reptiles,  88,  172. 
„  birds,  99,  105,  173. 

„         „         „  carnivora,  115,  117. 

„         „         „  primates,  128. 

„         „         „  relation  to  instinctive  movements,  90. 
Birds,  their  basal  ganglia,  99,  173. 

,,          „     cerebral  cortex,  99. 

„         „     auditory  centres,  176. 
„    visual  „       102. 

,,         ,,     emotional  characteristics,  102. 

„          „    functions  of  their  cerebral  hemispheres,  103,  174. 

„          ,,     organs  of  special  sense,  101. 

„         ,,     psychic  cerebral  substance,  176. 

,,          „     sensori- memorial  cerebral  centres,  100. 
Bohn,  Dr  G.,  on  movements  of  unicellular  beings,  6. 
„  ,,  „  of  worms,  49. 

„  ,,      ,,    tropisms,  165. 

„  „      „    "  sensibilite  differentielle,"  165. 

Bolton,  Dr  J.  S.,  on  the  structure  of  the  neopallium,  94. 
Brain  in  amphibia,  84. 

,,      „  cartilaginous  fishes,  80. 

„     „  the  lamprey,  78. 

„     „  lower  vertebrates,  76,  78,  83. 

,,     „  reptiles,  95. 

„     „  birds,  98. 

„     „  mammalia,  108. 

„     „  „         functions  of  cerebral  hemispheres,  112-152,  174- 

187. 
Brehon  Code  (Part  II. ),  193,  198,  202. 


Calkins,  G.  N.,  on  movements  of  unicellular  beings,  13. 
Carnivora,  their  cerebral  development,  109. 

functions,  112,  119. 

„          Goltz's  experiments  on  dogs,  113,  120. 
„          their  instinctive  movements,  119. 
„     basal  ganglia,  108,  115,  117. 
Carter,  Brudnell,  on  case  of  latent  memory,  141. 
Cells,  their  structure,  31,  157. 
Celts,  their  origin  (Part  II.),  211. 


INDEX  291 

Celts,  influence  of  their  Bards,  204. 

„     their  hereditary  characteristics,  211,  213,  225,  232,  240,  250. 
,s          „     social  position  and  land  tenure,  195. 
,,      they  expel  the  Norsemen  from  Ireland,  229. 
„          ,,         ,,          Anglo-Normans  from  Thomond,  255. 
Cheetopoda,  nervous  system  of,  39. 
Character,  personal,  definition  of,  2,  154  (see  Purposive  matter). 

„        hereditary,  129  (see  Part  II.  p.  191). 
„  „        summary  of,  275  to  287. 

Chlorophyll  bodies,  movements  of,  24. 
Clancuilein  Sept,  its  origin,  221. 

„  characteristic  displayed  by  leaders  of,  222. 

Convoluta,  habitual  movements  of,  49. 
Cortical  substance  of  neopallium,  130. 

,,  „  „  associative,  137. 

„  „       derived  from  instinctive  matter,  134. 

„  ,,       influence  on  psychic  processes,  130,  137. 

„  „      its  five  layers  of  cells  in  the  primates,  132,  178. 

Cray-fish,  nervous  system  of,  41. 
„         movements  of,  51. 
„         mid-brain  and  basal  ganglia,  41. 


Dalcasian  Tribe  (Part  II.),  its  origin,  219. 
Darwin,  F.,  on  movements  in  unicellular  beings,  7. 

,,         „  „  „  Stentor,  8. 

„  plants,  8. 

„         „  „  „  psychic  action,  27. 

„        G.,  „  of  worms,  50. 

„         ,,  „  on  instincts  and  intelligence,  116. 

„          „  „  on  domesticated  dogs,  121. 

Didinium  nasutum,  its  purposive  action,  17. 
Druids,  their  influence,  205. 
Dubois,  E.,  on  tactile  sense  organs  and  cerebral  cortex,  135. 

E 

Echinus  esculentus,  movements  of,  48. 
Emotional  character  of  apes,  127. 
„  „          „  ants,  71. 

„  „         „  lower  vertebrata,  171. 

„  birds,  102. 
T* 


292  INDEX 

Emotional  character  of  carnivora,  115,  117. 

„  „          ,,          in  human  beings,  65,  94,  132,  282. 

Emotions  in  relation  to  basal  ganglia,  115. 

„        definition  of  term,  65. 
Energy  transformers,  159. 

Environment,  effect  on  personal  characteristics,  192. 
Enzymes,  159. 

Epistratum  in  relation  to  cerebral  cortex,  84. 
Evolution  of  instinctive  from  purposive  matter,  74,  90. 

„  „  purposive  into  psychical  matter,  94,  110,  134,  174,  184. 

Ewart,  A.  J.,  on  purposive  action  in  organisms,  12,  162. 
„       „         „       unicellular  movements,  8. 


Fish,  absence  of  neopallium,  81 

„    instinctive  action  of,  88. 
Forrel,  A.,  on  memory  in  insects,  67. 

„       „     „  olfactory  organs  in  ants,  60. 
„        „     „  purposive  and  instinctive  movements,  68. 
Frogs,  effects  of  removal  of  cerebral  hemispheres,  87. 

,,      instinctive  action  of  basal  ganglia,  88. 
Fungiform  bodies,  in  brains  of  Crustacea,  42. 
„  „  „         „    insects,  65. 

„  „     and  psychical  capacities,  41,  55,  71. 


Hardy,  W.  B.,  on  purposive  action,  13. 
Hemispheres  of  the  brain,  85,  131. 

„  „  their  functions  in  birds,  103. 

„  „  „  „  in  man,  150,  134. 

„  „  „  „  in  dogs,  113. 

„  „  comparative  capacity  of,  134. 

„  „  various  lobes  of,  93. 

„  „  association  fibres  of,  111. 

„  „  cortical  layers  of  neopallium,  94,  174. 

Heredity  as  determining  personal  character,  2,  192. 
„         effects  of  environment  on,  192. 
„         importance  of,  134,  151,  185  (see  Part  II.) 
Huxley  on  memorial  impressions,  20. 


INDEX  293 


Hydra,  their  sensory  organs,  33. 
„        nerve,  and  muscle  cells,  32. 
,,       their  movements  purposive,  43. 


Iberian  aborigines  of  Ireland  (Part  II.,  p.  208). 

„  „         conquest  by  Celts,  210. 

Ideas  or  mental  images,  142. 
,,      reproduction  of,  145. 
„      how  acquired,  147. 

„     in  relation  to  psychic  processes,  148,  184. 
„  „  „    colour  sense,  148. 

„     evolution,  183. 

,,     in  connection  with  words,  147,  184. 

Inner  layer  of  the  neopallium,  instinctive  and  emotional,  134. 
Insects,  their  nervous  system,  55,  64. 

eyes,  57. 

„        olfactory  organs,  59. 
,,       hearing,  64. 

taste,  62. 

,,       tactile  impressions,  63. 

„       instinctive  and  purposive  movements,  68,  71. 
,,       memory,  66. 
Instinctive  matter,  definition  of,  2. 

„      its  evolution,  90,  106. 

„  ,,       „  ,,         into  psychic  matter,  177. 

„  „       and  the  neopallium,  133. 

„  „         „    cerebral  cortex,  134. 

„  „       inherited,  123-4. 

„          action  (see  note,  p.  65,  also  pp.  105-6). 
„  „     in  the  cray-fish,  54. 

„  „      „  insects,  54,  68. 

„      „  fishes,  88,  171. 
„  „      „  apes,  126,  128. 

„  „       „  carnivora,  115-6. 

„  „     depends  on  substance  of  basal  ganglia,  88,  90,  171. 

Intellectual  processes,  evolution  of,  124. 

„  „         in  relation  to  the  neopallium,  130,  139. 

Ions,  their  action  on  living  matter,  9. 

Irish  Celts,  their  hereditary  characteristics,  211,  213,  225,  232,  240,  250 
,,  •  „  „  summary  of,  211,  275-287. 


294  INDEX 

J 

James,  W.,  on  instincts,  65. 
„  „  emotions,  65. 

Jelly-fish,  nerve  and  muscle  cells  in,  35. 

„        sense  organs  of,  36. 
Jennings,  H.  S.,  on  physiological  conditions,  7. 

in  Stentor,  7. 

„  „  movements  of  amoeba,  15. 

„  „  „  Paramcecium,  16. 

„  „  memorial  impressions,  21. 

„  ,,  "  trial  and  error  "  in  movements,  51. 

Johnston,  J.  B.,  on  nervous  system  of  vertebrates,  77,  85,  109,  151, 


Land  under  the  Brehon  Code  (Part  II.,  p.  197). 

„    its  importance  socially,  196. 
Light,  action  on  movements  of  plants,  25. 
Living  matter,  influence  of  ions  on,  28. 
Lobes  of  the  brain,  93,  94,  150. 

Lock,  R.  H.,  on  hereditary  personal  character,  152. 
Loeb,  J.,  on  memory  in  insects,  66. 
„        ,,    tropisms,  5,  163. 


M 

Macgrath's  history  of  Thomond  (Part  II.,  pp.  242,  245,  250). 
Mammalia,  their  psychic  elements,  178. 
Mann,  Dr  G.,  on  the  optic  thalami,  108. 
Medusoids,  nerve  and  muscle  cells  in,  35. 

„  movements  of,  45. 

Romanes,  G.  F.,  on,  47. 

Memorial  impressions  on  living  matter,  20,  172. 
Memory,  its  basis  substance,  65,  97,  172. 

„        in  insects,  66. 

„        „  reptiles,  97. 

„        „  plants,  97. 

„        latent  condition  of,  141. 
Mental  images  or  ideas,  142. 


INDEX  295 

Mommsen  and  Theory  on  hereditary  Celtic  character,  211. 

Moore,  B.,  on  the  action  of  ions,  9. 

Mott,  Dr  F.  W.,  on  instinctive  movements  in  dogs,  120. 

„  „        lectures  of  the  physiology  of  the  emotions,  121. 

Movements  of  plants  under  effects  of  light,  25. 

„       purposive,  27. 
„  of  Stentor  under  stimuli,  7. 

N 

Neopallium,  94. 

its  five  layers  of  cells,  94,  132,  178,  181,  182. 

„  „  evolution,  107. 

„  „  dimensions  in  man  and  apes,  131,  134. 

„  rudimentary  in  reptiles,  95. 

„  developed  from  instinctive  matter,  133,  177. 

„  its  relation  to  psychic  processes,  139,  174,  178,  181. 

Nerve  cells,  ganglionic,  their  structure,  31. 

„  „         in  Hydroids,  33. 

„  ,,          „  medusoids,  35. 

„  „          „  Echinoderms,  37. 

„  „         of  the  neopallium,  94. 

Norsemen  invasion  of  Celtic  Ireland  (Part  II.),  223. 

0 

Olfactory  organs  of  insects,  59. 
„  ,,       lamprey,  79. 

„       fishes,  81. 
Ova  of  chaetopterus,  action  of  ions  on,  11. 


Pagano,  Prof.,  on  functions  of  basal  ganglia,  117. 

Paramoecium  movements  of,  16. 

Personal  character,  definition  of  term,  2. 

Phototaxis,  4. 

Plants,  sensitivity  of  their  living  matter,  23. 

,,       movements  effected  by  light,  25. 

„  „  „         „  touch,  25. 

,,       their  memory,  26,  97. 

„          „    purposive  action,  27. 
Platyhelmia,  arrangement  of  nervous  system,  38. 


296  INDEX 

Polyps  nerve  and  muscle  cells,  development  of,  33. 

Proteids,  155. 

Protochordata,  nervous  system  of,  75. 

Protoplasm  functions  and  molecular  structure,  158. 

Pryer,  W.,  on  the  movements  of  starfish,  48. 

Psychic  matter  in  evolution,  107,  177. 

„  „      absent  in  lower  vertebrata,  172. 

„  „      its  relation  to  instinctive  matter,  134. 

,,  „      area  of,  in  mammalian  cortex,  143. 

„  ,,      illustration  of  its  action,  143. 

„  „      function  of,  in  birds,  175. 

„  „  „          „       mammalia,  178,  181. 

„       processes,  development  of,  148. 
„  „        in  relation  to  language,  149. 

Purposive  action,  definition  of,  2,  3,  22. 
,,  „      in  plants,  27. 

„  „      in  unicellular  beings,  53,  166. 

„      Ewart,  A.  J.,  on,  12,  162. 
„      Hardy,  W.  B.,  on,  13. 
„  „      Calkins,  G.  N.,  on,  13. 

„  „      Forrel,  on,  in  insects,  68. 

„  „      in  medusoids,  167. 

„  „      in  invertebrata,  169. 

„  „      in  vertebrata,  170. 

„         matter,  3,  105,  161,  166. 
„  „       of  bacteria,  14,  23. 

,,  „       of  amoeba,  15. 

„  „       movements  of,  in   unicellular  beings,  16,  17,  18, 

29,  54. 

„  „       diffused,  in  unicellular  beings,  30. 

„  „       becomes  differentiated  in  nerve  cells,  30,  32,  33. 


B 

Reaction,  2. 
Reflex  movements,  84. 
Reptiles,  their  central  nervous  system,  95. 
,,  „     rudimentary  neopallium,  95. 

„  ,,     memory,  97. 

Romanes,  G.  J.,  on  purposive  action,  22. 

„  „  movements  of  jelly-fish,  47. 

„  „  use  of  words  (note),  p.  43. 


INDEX  297 


Schrader's  experiments  on  birds,  103. 
Sensations,  140. 

„  and  ideas,  142. 

Sensori- memorial  centres  in  birds,  100. 

„       organs,  their  relation  to  the  neopallium,  139,  140. 
Sharks,  movements  after  decapitation,  84. 
Smith,  Elliot,  Prof.,  on  the  neopallium,  94. 

,,          „  „       on  cerebral  cortex,  94. 

Sponges  in  relation  to  purposive  action,  32. 
Starfish,  nervous  structure  of,  37. 

„        movements  of,  48. 

Stentor  raeselia  in  relation  to  purposive  action,  18. 
Sticklebacks  and  salmon,  instinctive  action  of,  88. 
Stimuli,  2. 
Summary  and  conclusions,  154. 


Tactile  sense  organs  in  relation  to  cerebrum,  135. 
Tribe  and  Sept,  their  social  position  (Part  II. ,  p.  194). 
Tropisms,  Prof.  Loeb  on,  5,  163. 

Dr  Bohn  on,  6,  165. 
Turtles,  their  power  to  learn,  96. 


Unicellular  beings,  movements  of,  5,  6,  8. 

„  „  „  purposive,  12. 

„  „  F.  Darwin  on,  7. 


Vertebrata,  basal  ganglia  in  lower  classes  of,  170. 

„  „          „       and  instinctive  movements,  171. 


W 

Wagner,  G.,  on  movements  of  Hydra,  43. 
Washburn,  Miss  M.  F.,  on  "  animal  mind,"  15. 

„  movements  of  starfish,  49. 


298  INDEX 

Word,  sensori- motor  centres,  143,  179. 
Worms,  arrangement  of  nervous  system,  38. 

,,       movements  of,  49. 

„       G.  Darwin  on,  50. 


Yerkes,  Prof.,  on  memory  of  Crustacea,  51. 

,,  on  auditory  apparatus  in  amphibia,  86. 

,,  on  discrimination  of  colour  in  amphibia,  86. 

,,  frogs  power  to  learn,  86. 

„  turtles  power  to  learn,  96. 


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